Boeing, Drake State partner to build talent pipeline
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Boeing's Lance Fulks said he was stopped by multiple people wanting to apply to the program on his way to the announcement Wednesday. Photo: Derek Lacey/Axios
Drake State Community & Technical College is partnering with Boeing in Huntsville to establish a paid apprenticeship program, the two announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: "This program will create direct pathways to individuals in our community for high-demand careers in defense and advanced manufacturing," Drake State president Patricia Sims said at the announcement.
How it works: The Boeing Technical Apprenticeship Program (BTAP) will train apprentices for advanced manufacturing positions as they earn a salary and benefits from Boeing.
- Lance Fulks, vice president of manufacturing at Boeing's space, intelligence and weapons systems division, said trainees will be matched with Boeing mentors for hands-on training at Drake.
- The program "takes that time from unskilled to truly competent and compresses it, so we get talent faster," he said Wednesday.
What they're saying: "We are the connector," Sims said. "This opportunity with Boeing allows us to do what we do well."
- Drake's mission is workforce development, she said: identifying the talent, training that talent, and connecting that talent with opportunities.
"When we look across the labor market, the skills we need are pretty scarce," Fulks said. "So what we are doing is we are owning workforce development."
Context: Advanced manufacturing jobs like the positions Boeing seeks to fill require more skilled work like soldering and testing, versus the more traditional high-rate production work like assembly, Fulks said.
Driving the news: Boeing has signed seven-year framework agreements to triple production of PAC-3 seekers, said Jim Bryan, director of integrated air and missile defense at Boeing.
- "It's a lot bigger than just Iran," he said, when asked about PAC-3 demand as the war there appears to be winding down, with more than a dozen customers across the globe.
State of play: Boeing currently has about 700 workers in advanced manufacturing roles in Huntsville, Fulks said.
- The company doesn't have a hiring target through the program, he said.
- The program is modeled after one Boeing established in St. Louis last year, he said, which 233 candidates have already completed.
The bottom line: "Programs like this strengthen our workforce pipeline," U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, whose district includes Huntsville, said at the announcement. "They give employers confidence to grow and invest here, and they create a ripple effect across North Alabama's economy."