Building a better workforce

Time was, the American Dream game plan was you went to school, then you went to work. In today's business world, the education never ends - training and retraining employees. In a high-speed, high-tech world of innovation and competition, entire operations occasionally need a shot of fresh thinking.

In Pasco County, employers and employees have several resources available to help local businesses keep up, whether it's finding the right workers, training workers and management and in general helping them keep up with the global pace.

The Pasco Economic Development Council (PEDC), in conjunction with Pasco-Hernando Community College (PHCC), Career Central, and the Hernando County Office of Business Development, has formed what is called the Collaboration Committee.

The panel meets monthly to exchange information and ideas on how to promote and support their respective programs and to meet the training needs of area employers, employees, and individuals.

A big part of that is to spread awareness of the help that's out there, some of it at little or no cost, to area businesses.

The means to get lean

Maybe Joe Trangata shouldn't have retired - he would have more free time. As a senior lead project manager for the Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership (FL-MEP), he figures he's putting in about 55 to 60 hours a week.

Funded and structured under the United States Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technologies created the nonprofit Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership to provide companies with services and access to public and private resources to enhance growth, improve productivity, and expand capacity.

Based in the Orlando-area town of Celebration, the Florida MEP works with businesses of all sizes, from major defense contractors to small mom-and-pop operations. Its staff consists of retired professionals like Trangata, who act as consultants. Its funding is based on "impacts" it provides for its clients, Trangata explained. These impacts include improving sales and profits and creating jobs.

One of the main services Florida MEP provides is what is called "enterprise lean assessments."

"Lean" manufacturing - often simply referred to as "lean" - is a philosophy popularized in the 1990s. It looks to streamline production practices from concept to consumer, creating more value with less work.

While there is no definitive "lean system," the philosophy has produced some standards and methods that can be fairly universally applied.

"We'll go in and do an assessment," Trangata said, "Let's see how you do it, from the front door when the sale is initiated until it gets out the door to your customer. We take a look at that process."

On average, he said, only about 30 percent of a product's creation involves manufacturing. The rest of the process includes administration and transportation.

There are, consequently, many points along the way at which the creation process can get bogged down. Many of the snares are just old habits, the things you don't even notice until they are pointed out.

Suppliers have to be lean these days, as a matter of survival, Trangata said. More and more major companies won't do business with those who aren't.

Besides the scrutiny from trained eyes, one of the advantages of getting a Florida MEP assessment is that the organization has connections with the U.S. departments of Labor, Defense and Transportation. It can often find grants that will pay from 50 to 75 percent of the cost for the service.

For smaller companies in Pasco, Florida MEP works with the PEDC to arrange for consortiums where several companies can send two or three representatives each for seminars on a number of subjects, including on lean techniques.

Florida MEP recently introduced a new service to help manufacturers with the most important component of running an efficient business.

"We've been saying to the Department of Commerce, one of the biggest problems is finding skilled workers," Trangata said.

The response was the development of Mobile Outreach Skills Training. This program trains and places people with little or no experience in entry-level production jobs.

Rather than lose time and production taking experienced employees from their own jobs and having them train the new workers, MEP will bring a "mobile boot camp" to the business. The traveling trainers provide two weeks of intensive training on the technical skills new hires will need to get started.

What follows probably is the best part of the program, Trangata said. After the boot camp, MEP trainers provide the new employees with two months of on-the-job training. Then they will provide another four months of mentoring, weekly check-ins to make sure the new employees are settling in to their new jobs.

That's six months of training and orientation, Trangata said, and the best part? With the current push to retrain the workforce, the U.S. Dept. of Labor will foot the bill for all of it.

Advertising is something the MEP doesn't really budget for, Trangata said. The organization is one of those "best kept secrets" that would rather not be. For the most part, the businesses they have come in contact with have been through networking via the PEDC and other business-oriented organizations.

To find out more about Florida MEP, visit their Web site, http://www.Floridamep.org, or call 727-939-2843.

School's in

Unlike Florida MEP, Pasco-Hernando Community College does not suffer from a lack of name recognition. But what not is as well-known about the school as its administrators and faculty would like is that PHCC has a growing corporate training department.

"The college has always had an involvement in training; over the past six years, we have developed its corporate training," said PHCC's corporate training director, Anne Arto.

"Our Corporate Training department provides continuing workforce education programs and services to support local business and industry partners that require cutting edge training - or retraining - to enhance workforce skills, said Dr. Kathy Johnson, PHCC president. "This is a critical component of the overall economic development process in our community."

As the college's business training unit has grown and taken part in the work of the Collaboration Committee, Arto's staff has gotten the word out to more businesses looking to retrain their employees as efficiently and easily as possible.

During the college's 2009 fiscal year, which ended June 30, PHCC provided 10,150 hours of training to 1,034 employees. It offered both predesigned and custom-made noncredit workshops.

PHCC offers a variety of corporate training services. Customized training is the most intensive service the school provides. Using formal written needs assessments, meetings with company representatives and onsite visits, they will design a program to meet the company's training needs.

Whatever shape a training program may take, Arto said, one of the best aspects of what PHCC offers is the experience of an educational institution. The courses are taught by highly qualified faculty or professionally employed trainers.

Employees' coursework is recorded on their official PHCC transcript, making it easy to document their academic achievements, and though the classes are not worth college credit, employees receive a PHCC certificate of achievement for each course they successfully complete.

For companies with training needs that are less specific, PHCC offers Ready-to-Go. This is a collection of predesigned, half- or full-day workshops on popular topics.

The courses are usually taught at the company, Arto said. Computer-related classes, often held at the school's computer lab, are one of the exceptions.

The school charges a flat rate for these Ready-to-Go classes, between $19.25 and $20 per hour, per person for full- and half-day classes.

Another training option that is rapidly growing in popularity is the online courses PHCC offers.

This approach gives employees the flexibility to study at their own pace and to accommodate unexpected job demands. For more information about corporate training opportunities offered through PHCC, call Anne Arto 1-352-518-1256 or visit PHCC's Online Learning Center at http://www.ed2go.com/phcc-pro.

From square one

Of course, before a business can train its employees, it has to find them. Matching employers with the right employees is always a difficult and frustrating process from both sides of the equation.

In Pasco County, the first stop for people looking for work and for companies looking for workers is Career Central, a one-stop oasis of employment services.

Career Central is sponsored by the Pasco Hernando Jobs and Education Partnership Regional Board.

Its stated mission is "to serve as a catalyst in the community for promoting self-sufficiency through the development of a quality workforce."

For job-seekers, Career Central offers job search links, as well as tips and advice on how to be more marketable. It offers skills training and advice how to apply for financial aid for those who want to go back to school; career planning services to teens and adults; and services for veterans and seniors.

It can even help those who need to apply for unemployment benefits.

For employers, Career Central not only offers a place to post job ads, but will assign business account representative who will regularly assist that employer in using Career Central services and facilities. Career Central also offers free pre-employment and training assessments for potential hires.

The representatives can also match your hiring requirements with candidates in the job bank to create a 'short list' of skilled workers. Career Central also hosts quarterly career fairs where your representative can meet and screen prospective employees in person.

Career Central has three offices: 4440 Grand Blvd., New Port Richey; 7361 Forest Oaks Blvd., Spring Hill; and 6038 Gall Blvd., Zephyrhills. Its resources can also be accessed through its website, http://www.careercentral.jobs.

Most recently, Career Central has added a Mobile Unit. This self-contained resource room on wheels offers 12 computer stations; satellite, Internet and telecommunications; printing, copying, and fax capacity; and total mobility.

Employers can use the Mobile Unit to anchor on-site employee recruitment efforts and job fairs, testing and training. Job seekers can search for work, create and print resumes, access local and statewide job listings and receive referrals to and information about the programs of Career Central.

To see where the mobile unit is scheduled to be, or to arrange to have it come to a specific location, visit the Career Central website.