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InTech Center in Fontana, which opened last week, is expected to train Inland Empire residents to work in manufacturing while attracting businesses to the region. The project, which has been in the works for several years, is being praised for its blending of the public and private sectors.
During her 31 years with California Steel Industries, Kyle A. Schulty has watched the company deal with at least one issue that has refused to go away: finding qualified people to hire.
“It’s been a constant battle for as long as I can remember,” said Schulty, manager of communications and corporate services for the Fontana company, one of the largest producers of flat-rolled steel in the western United States. “A lot of things have caused it. So many [regional occupational programs] have been eliminated, which means people haven’t gotten the training they’ve needed. There work has also become a lot more complicated, which has made it harder to fill some jobs.”
Even with two full-time employees dedicated exclusively to finding qualified workers – either outsiders or current workers who might be able to fill a position – filling open spots has been an uphill climb.
“You can’t just walk into a place and operate machinery anymore,” Schulty said. “You have to have a degree or some certification.”
Not having enough qualified people to fill technical jobs hasn’t been California Steel Industries’ problem exclusively. It’s plagued the Inland Empire for years, not just in manufacturing but also in its logistics industry, which has become increasingly sophisticated with the onset of mega-sized fulfillment centers that can fill online orders in one day.
Regional economist John Husing, who has been tracking the Inland Empire economy since the 1960s, has long lamented the region’s lack of qualified, trained personnel to fill those jobs, many of which pay middle-class wage and are available to people without a lot of education.
All of that might be about to change.
Last week, a group of educational, business and governmental partners officially opened the Industrial Technical Learning Center [InTech Center] on the campus of California Steel Industries in Fontana.
About 200 people attended the ribbon cutting ceremony, which was presided over by Brett Guge, executive vice president of finance and administration for California Steel Industries and Dr. Henry Shannon, president and superintendent of Chaffey College.
Chaffey College and the Inland Empire Regional Training Consortium – a group of local community and four-year colleges that includes Cal State San Bernardino and UC Riverside – established InTech Center.
Chaffey College will oversee the project, which covers 28,000 square feet and includes a cafeteria and conference center.
The training center is being paid for with a $15 million grant from Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor. Employers and employees will be able to use it at no cost.
The goal is to train workers quickly so they can land a job quickly, preferably somewhere in Riverside or San Bernardino counties. Students will be trained in advanced manufacturing, advanced transportation, logistics, energy and utilities as well computers and digital media.
InTech Center, which will be able to train more than 2,000 workers, is the first facility of its kind in the Inland Empire. It was also the only project in California to receive a grant from the Trade Adjustment Assistance program during 2014, which handed out 71 grants that year, Shannon said during his opening ceremony remarks.
“This is something the Inland region desperately needs,” Shannon told IE Business Daily several days before the opening ceremony.
“The concept behind this is, ‘if you train them they will come.’ A trained workforce means more of our local people will get jobs, but it will also mean that more businesses will want to come here. They won’t have to go to some other region, or go offshore, to do business.”
Greg Devereaux, San Bernardino County’s chief executive officer, echoed those sentiments, while praising InTech Center for being an example of public and private forces coming together to help improve the region’s economy.
San Bernardino County must reverse its longtime problem of getting and retaining skilled workers, especially manufacturing and technology, Devereaux told the crowd gathered in InTech Center’s main conference room.
“This is exactly the kind of partnership we need to see more of, because you are not going to attract Fortune 500 companies without an educated, skilled workforce,” Devereaux said. “They will always go somewhere else.”
The Inland Empire isn’t the only place where workers skilled in manufacturing and tech jobs are at a premium. The problem is common throughout much of the United States, according to a study published last year by Deloitte, the New York-based consulting and auditing firm.
During the next 10 years, close to 3.5 million manufacturing jobs are expected to be created in the United States, but up to two million of those probably won’t be filled because of a lack of qualified applicants, the report stated.
Several factors, including baby boomers retiring, an expanded economy and a negative perception of manufacturing among some young people are some of the reasons why the United States won’t have enough skilled manufacturing workers.
Eighty percent of manufacturing executives told Deloitte that they are willing to pay more than the market rates in some areas to fill their jobs, yet they still can’t fill approximately 60 percent of their jobs because of a lack of qualified applicants, according to the report.
“This clearly indicates there are not a sufficient number of workers in manufacturing to fill these positions,” the report stated.
Filling manufacturing jobs in the Inland Empire will always be difficult, but that challenge must be met if the Inland Empire economy is to remain competitive, said Mike Stull, professor of entrepreneurship and director of the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship at Cal State San Bernardino.
“We need four more training centers like this one in the Inland Empire, at least,” Stull said.
