GOVERNOR PATRICK ANNOUNCES FIRST-IN-THE-NATION ACADEMY DESIGNED TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO JOBS IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR

GOVERNOR PATRICK ANNOUNCES FIRST-IN-THE-NATION ACADEMY DESIGNED TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO JOBS IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR

Announcement made at Commonwealth’s first manufacturing summit

FOXBORO – Thursday, June 20, 2013 – Governor Deval Patrick today announced the creation of the Advanced Manufacturing Regional Partnership Academy (the Academy), a first-in-the-nation program designed to meet the manufacturing industry’s future workforce needs. The Academy will provide hands-on learning opportunities, and tool and peer-education to regional leaders, helping eliminate one of the industry’s chief concerns of finding well-trained employees to fill available jobs in manufacturing.

“Advanced manufacturing is an area of critical focus, one that can help us put people to work now and prepare our workers for the jobs of the 21^st century global economy,” said Governor Patrick. “It is central to our strategy of investing today in order to create a stronger Commonwealth for the next generation. Through the Advanced Manufacturing Regional Partnership Academy we are helping employers gain direct access to the talented workers that will strengthen their businesses.”

The announcement of the Academy was part of Thursday’s Advanced Manufacturing Summit at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, the first event of its kind to bring together government officials and industry and business leaders to discuss a resurgent sector of the state’s economy that expects to hire 100,000 people over the next decade. Nearly 500 industry professionals attended the summit.

The creation of the Academy builds on the record investments in workforce training and education made by the Patrick Administration in recent years, including more than $10 million in Workforce Training Fund Grants awarded to 117 manufacturers since July 2011. Additionally, the Administration has fostered relationships throughout the regions to strengthen and expand connections between manufacturing companies and community colleges, career and technical high schools, career centers and workforce boards. For example, in partnership with Putnam Vocational Technical Academy, Westfield Vocational Technical High School and Springfield Technical Community College, the Precision Manufacturing Training Program has supported the training of 89 workers in Hampden County, including 31 veterans and 44 residents from Gateway Cities.

“Promoting growth and opportunity in the manufacturing sector is essential to the Commonwealth’s long-term economic development,” said Senator William “Mo” Cowan. “Governor Patrick’s groundbreaking Advanced Manufacturing Regional Partnership Academy helps bridge the divide between an untapped workforce and the needs of advanced and high-tech manufacturers. Investing in the development of these partnerships spurs competitiveness in Massachusetts and, once again, allows us to serve as a model for job creation across the country.”

“With great job and career options available to workers, particularly younger potential employees, our manufacturing industry is creating economic opportunity for everyone in Massachusetts,” said Greg Bialecki, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development. “Through the Advanced Manufacturing Regional Partnership Academy we are creating better connections and potential success for both companies and employees.”

The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative, created by Governor Patrick in 2011 to help build a globally competitive manufacturing industry in Massachusetts, is working with MassDevelopment, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s Commonwealth Corporation and the University of Massachusetts to build the Academy. By collecting and sharing best practices locally and nationally, the Academy will create models for education, training and workforce development efforts in support of advanced manufacturing.

“By working collaboratively across state agencies and in partnership with the private sector, we are identifying the needs and opportunities to enhance workforce training within the manufacturing industry,” said Joanne F. Goldstein, Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development. “As the industry plans to hire approximately 100,000 jobs over the next decade, we will continue to promote best practices to prepare and train the industry’s future generation of skilled workers.”

"The Academy is one of many initiatives that reflect a true collaboration between industry, government, and academic and training organizations to strengthen the competitiveness of the Massachusetts advanced manufacturing cluster," said Mitch Tyson, Co-Chair of the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative and Principal at Tyson Associates.

Along with focusing on workforce development, the summit was designed to concentrate on promoting the vitality of the state’s manufacturing industry, improving supply-chain opportunities for small companies by connecting them to large manufacturing companies, and helping small manufacturers compete by sharing best practices and better connecting those companies with state programs and resources that are proven to work.

Other speakers at the summit included House Speaker Robert DeLeo, UMass-Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan, MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Dr. Martin Schmidt and Chief Manufacturing Office at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Roger Kilmer. Panelists included officials from some of the state’s biggest and most innovative companies in manufacturing, including General Dynamics, General Electric, Raytheon, Nypro, DePuy Synthes Johnson & Johnson, EMC, Pratt & Whitney, MKS Instruments, Bolt and Dragon Innovation.