Innovative Workforce Training Will Support Advanced Manufacturing

LANSING (June 28, 2023) — Michigan manufacturers of every size, in every industry subsector and in every corner of the state are looking to hire qualified people for rewarding and high wage careers of the future. With funding recently awarded by the state, the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA) will be putting workforce training opportunities designed to meet the needs of the advanced manufacturing sector into high gear.

“Thanks to a sizeable injection from the Sector Strategies Employer-Led Collaborative grant program, MMA is deploying nearly $500,000 to build deep and sustainable employer-led collaboratives,” said John J. Walsh, President & CEO of MMA. “These collaboratives will serve as an ongoing statewide manufacturing talent development supply chain and ecosystem geared to delivering highly trained individuals to our state’s manufacturers.”

For 120 years, MMA has served as the unifying champion of the most diverse manufacturing center in the world. With a proven track record and an unwavering commitment to serve Michigan manufacturers through effective advocacy, meaningful education and strategic business services, MMA serves our next generation of innovators that are collaborating to drive Michigan into a future that will continue to shape our collective fortunes, our state’s economy, the communities we serve, our individual businesses, and our families’ livelihoods.

This is the first grant award for MMA, representing immediate success for the Association’s aggressive investments in an arena which presents the primary barrier to growth for the manufacturing industry. With the establishment of an executive level talent focused position, placement of nationally renowned manufacturing talent expert Bill Rayl at the helm of the strategic business unit, and the development of numerous partnerships intended to help Michigan manufacturers thrive, MMA is mission focused on ensuring that Michigan manufacturers win the global war for talent.

In 2021, MMA embarked on a partnership with the SME Education Foundation to expand the SME Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education (PRIME) initiative in Michigan. PRIME establishes cost-effective and tailored manufacturing and engineering relevant programs in high schools, providing equipment, curriculum, teacher professional development, manufacturing relevant STEM focused extracurricular activities, and access to college scholarships for student completers. There are currently 33 PRIME schools located across Michigan: the most of any state in the nation.

“MMA will leverage the Sector Strategies Employer-Led Collaboratives grant to form the initial phase of a statewide learning ecosystem focused on relationship and capacity building across and between the individual collaboratives,” said Bill Rayl, Executive Director of Workforce Solutions for MMA. “These sustainable employer-led collaboratives will leverage the state’s PRIME schools to provide a sustainable statewide manufacturing talent pipeline to Michigan’s manufacturers.”

For more information or to schedule a call with MMA Executive Director of Workforce Solutions Bill Rayl, contact MMA’s Delaney McKinley at 517-487-8530 or mckinley@mimfg.org.

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