Milacron's skills-shortage solution

Teaming up with the University of Cincinnati Clermont College, Milacron helped develop a program designed to train workers in advanced manufacturing skills and provide them with hands-on experience, tools and payment for their time in a 16-week time course. The classes are conducted in a newly renovated, former Ford manufacturing facility near UC Clermont College’s UC East campus.

“We had been looking for machine operators for quite a while without much success, and with a number of retirements on the horizon, we needed some out-of-the-box thinking to have our workforce prepared for the future,” said Jim Kinzie, plant manager of Milacron’s Mt. Orab facility. “This program fits our needs perfectly. The model helped us to quickly close the skills gap we have been experiencing and has far exceeded our initial expectations.”

We’ll take them all   
Milacron just announced a 100% hiring rate for the first graduating class from this pilot machinist training program. The 10 graduates ranged in age from 18-52 and had a wide range of industrial skills and experience, but no machining experience, when they entered the program. Kinzie told PlasticsToday that these 10 students were carefully selected from applicants who came to Milacron looking for work. “We selected them based on their job experience and ability to learn,” he said. “They were good people but didn’t have the exact skills we needed.”

During the 16-week program, the students are employed at Milacron on a temporary basis and are paid while they learn. Milacron also pays their tuition, per a contract the company has with each participating student. At the end of the 16 weeks, there’s no guarantee that the students will be asked to stay with the company. “They perform the best they can during their 16-week program and at the end of the program we select those people we need,” said Kinzie. “While they have a contract that says they will stay with Milacron for a minimum period of two years, that contract is waived if we do not accept them as a full-time permanent employees.”

While 16 weeks doesn’t seem like a long time, Kinzie explained that it’s enough time and training in the basics of machine operation that makes them viable to get them a job with the company. “They still need more training but they have the basics and understanding of the job so they can take that next step. Students graduating from the 16-week program have the option to continue on to UC Clermont’s Associates degree program, and Milacron has a tuition reimbursement program to help with that as well.

Customized curriculum
UC Clermont worked closely with Milacron to customize the curriculum to meet Milacron’s needs. Kinzie said that the curriculum was “tweaked” a bit to provide more hands-on training. “That was a weakness we saw in the first program,” he added.

The college also secured a $250,000 grant that is funding additional equipment, helping make the program viable long-term. Additionally, the UC Clermont program isn’t limited just to the 10 people that Milacron enrolls, but other students are in the program as well.

With this inaugural class, Milacron was so impressed with the students’ performance that the company hired all 10 of them. “All 10 were great so we took all 10,” said Kinzie. “This has worked out to be a good program for us.”