How Mazda-Toyota is training its future north Alabama workforce
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The assembly line at Mazda-Toyota's Huntsville plant. Photo: Courtesy of Mazda-Toyota Manufacturing
As manufacturers compete for skilled workers, Mazda Toyota Manufacturing is taking steps to build its own talent pipeline in North Alabama.
Why it matters: Manufacturing is growing and becoming more advanced. But its workforce is aging, and not enough new workers are prepared to meet demand.
Zoom in: Daniel Smith, MTM manager of central maintenance, is co-chair of the Rocket City Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (F.A.M.E.) program.
- College students in the program spend two days at school and three days at a company like MTM, giving them paid work experience alongside their education and experience for the future manufacturing workforce.
- MTM pays its F.A.M.E. students for a full 40-hour week with partial benefits and covers their school costs, Smith said, making the program more accessible to students who need a full-time income.
What they're saying: "We're trying to put in steps and things … over the next year or two that will set us up for that seven- to eight-year mark down the road," Smith said. "I think we're looking in the right direction."
Yes, but: He said manufacturers need to reach students before they hit 12th grade.
- That's where MTM's high school-focused program Leading Industry Growth by Helping Teachers comes in, led by Courtney Franklin, LIGHT program coordinator.
- Franklin connects with students at Huntsville City Schools' Center for Technology and Morgan County Schools' Technology Park.
- The program reached more than 250 students last year, expects to reach 175 students this year and has fed four students into the F.A.M.E. program.
Case in point: "We're not just wanting to pop in … tell them about opportunities and then leave," Franklin told Axios. "We're in there, we're staying."
- The program introduces students to advanced manufacturing careers, workplace safety and technical skills, as well as soft skills like personal finance, she said.
What we're watching: MTM is pushing beyond North Alabama, too, Smith said, having worked with Manufacture Alabama on the Talent Readiness and Industry Needs (TRAIN) Act sponsored by Republican state Rep. James Lomax.
- Starting next year, companies can take advantage of tax credits to cover part of an employee's salary while they go to local schools to teach, like Franklin does with the LIGHT program.
The bottom line: Students working with Smith and Franklin could be the ones building Mazda-Toyota's 2 millionth car.