AMANDA VAN BENSCHOTEN

NKY leaders step in to grow Gateway grads

The challenge: produce more workers for high-tech advanced manufacturing jobs

Amanda Van Benschoten
avbnky@nky.com

Four years after its $28.5 million Center for Advanced Manufacturing opened, Gateway Community & Technical College is not producing anywhere near the 10,000 graduates and trainees it had promised to deliver by 2015.

That's a big problem for Northern Kentucky advanced manufacturers, who need more than 600 new workers a year.

Community leaders have become so concerned that they're now stepping up to tackle the problem.

As first reported by the Enquirer on Monday, a new coalition was announced Tuesday morning at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Eggs & Issues breakfast.

Members include: Gateway, the Chamber, Northern Kentucky Tri-ED, the Northern Kentucky Education Council, Duke Energy, Northern Kentucky University, the Northern Kentucky Area Development District, the Northern Kentucky Workforce Investment Board, the Northern Kentucky Industrial Park Association, Vision 2015, and the judges-executive of Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties.

The coalition's task: figuring out why Gateway is falling short in advanced manufacturing and what needs to be done about it.

Gateway Community & Technical College's $28.5 million Center for Advanced Manufacturing, which opened in 2010, is not producing enough graduates to meet employers' needs.

"When the Center for Advanced Manufacturing opened at Gateway, everybody hoped that it would solve our challenges. But unfortunately, it hasn't. We still have (worker) shortfalls every year. The center isn't meeting projections. So let's work together to solve this challenge," said Chamber president Trey Grayson.

Related: Gateway needs more students in high-tech manufacturing

Advanced manufacturing accounts for 10 percent of the jobs in Northern Kentucky; key employers include ZF Steering, Mazak and Mubea.

The industry has two problems: a rapidly-aging workforce, and a shortage of trained workers to both replace them and to fill newly-created jobs. Northern Kentucky manufacturers say they need 6,250 new employees over the next decade to do everything from engineering to welding.

If the region doesn't figure out a solution soon, manufacturers can't grow as fast as they'd like - and some may decide to leave.

The coalition will take a "collective impact" approach to the problem, where groups and individuals come together around a common goal and figure out where each can make an impact.

"It won't be a sea change immediately, but it will be something where we're effective over time," said Tri-ED president Dan Tobergte. "But we have to come up with something to satisfy the needs of our companies. There are number of them that are very concerned about this."

The college has been under increasing public and private pressure in recent months. Manufacturers have been complaining privately, and Gateway board members have been publicly critical of the college's approach.

Related: Gateway president, board clash over program's success

In early October, Gateway issued a "Report to the Community" where it admitted the college was falling short of its goals in advanced manufacturing, and asked for help and support from the community.

"We're really excited that people read the report and are reacting to it," said Gateway President Dr. G. Edward Hughes. "We recognize it's a little more than we can do alone; we need some help...We've got a great asset here (in the CAM), great faculty and staff, and we want to do more."

Community and business leaders initially responded to the report with a letter asking Gateway to "go back to the drawing board" and develop a new strategy for attracting, retaining and graduating advanced manufacturing workers.

But in a subsequent meeting of business and political leaders, they agreed Gateway also needed help from the community. Thus, the coalition.

"For Gateway to do a better job, we all need to play a role," Grayson said. "We're not going to point fingers; we're all going to hold hands and figure this out together."