Aerospace industry depends on local skilled workforce
Photo by Anne Stokes
Unless you work in the aerospace industry, you may not realize the significance of fasteners. These are the parts that hold airplanes and spacecraft together — they must be strong and well made.
Roughly three-fourths of all aerospace fasteners used worldwide are made in Southern California. Local manufacturers employ 15,000 workers. Countless more people work for suppliers and other businesses that support the manufacturing efforts.
Yet, this vital economic sector “is ours to lose,” says Pat Meade, aerospace division manager for the Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI), a trade organization with 125 member corporations nationwide.
“These programs are essential to maintaining [the aerospace] industry in Southern California.”
Pat Meade, Aerospace division manager for the Industrial Fasteners Institute
Other states would love to lure the manufacturers away. A significant incentive to stay is a supply of reliable skilled employees — “willing workers,” Meade calls them.
Manufacturers face significant challenges in recruiting and retaining the personnel needed to man fastener factories.
In response, IFI teamed with El Camino College to create a training program. It’s based at ECC Compton Center, and Meade hopes it will expand to other locations. Since launching six years ago, the program has introduced around three dozen students per semester to manufacturing, and 70 have gone on to get jobs in aerospace fastener companies.
“Because we’re looking for people to actually run machines, we want to give them an opportunity to have a hands-on experience,” Meade explains. “It’s not an environment like for an [information technology] person, a Silicon Valley type. It does provide the understanding of what it’s actually like to manufacture a product.”
Meade brought together IFI member companies to develop the curriculum and donate equipment, as did IFI. The manufacturers may be competitors, but they united for mutual benefit. “What they’re getting is people who have shown an interest in the industry because they’ve been doing it for 16 weeks,” Meade says, “as opposed to hiring somebody off the street who may come into the factory and say after a few weeks, ‘Gee, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to get my hands dirty.’ You don’t want to hire somebody, invest a lot of money in training them and have them walk off the job. You’re better off finding that out sooner, and that’s what the class does.”
IFI and El Camino College found a retired aerospace fastener manufacturer to become the course’s instructor, offering an overview of the fabrication process. Once a student gets hired, the factory provides specialized training in its particular, proprietary methods.
This form of adult education has wide-reaching benefits. Students get the opportunity for what Meade calls “a career that will sustain them for the rest of their lives,” while serving as the lifeblood of manufacturing enterprises that pump vitality into the local economy.
“These programs are essential to maintaining [the aerospace] industry in Southern California,” Meade says. “Without these programs, there’s a likelihood the industry could move to areas that are willing to invest tax money in getting companies to move. So, having this program assures that the industry will stay and provide that tax base to the community.”
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Written by Evan Tuchinsky
| Regions | Classes |
|---|---|
| South Coast California | Careers in Manufacturing-Construction |
