Recruitment and Training in the Plastics Industry
South Carolina's Plastics Companies to Benefit from Grant
The plastics industry in South Carolina has been the focus of intense research over the last 12 months by SCMEP. Last year, SCMEP's Board of Directors designated the industry a critical industrial cluster and voted to increase concentration of its services to plastics companies. SCMEP also is increasing collaborative efforts with other organizations interested in manufacturing expansion in order to help plastics executives recruit, train, and keep the skilled workers necessary to run successful facilities.
There are several hot issues in the industry that need immediate attention, according to SCMEP manufacturing specialists who have conducted in-depth focus groups with plastics leaders. The main issues deal with the attraction, training, and retention of skilled workers. While current economic conditions have mitigated these concerns to some degree, the fact remains that the plastics industry is a growth industry for the state, and the issues need to be addressed now to facilitate future growth.
Recently, SCMEP increased its emphasis on helping plastics manufacturers. In July, SCMEP was selected as a recipient of a $112,000 grant to begin implementation of workforce training and recruitment projects for the state's plastics industry. The critical skills grant is offered by the State Workforce Investment Board, which was formed under authority of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. The Board has identified the plastics industry as a critical needs industry due to skilled labor shortages. SCMEP is beginning project implementation and will provide the following types of services to qualified plastics companies around the state:
- Identification of employment positions needed in South Carolina plastics companies;
- Discovery of companies' requirements in filling these positions; and
- Development and/or adaptation of the curriculum and resources necessary to fill training needs.
South Carolina has many large, well-known plastics manufacturers and processors, but it also contains a large percentage of very small employers. In fact, 85 percent of the stateÕs plastics manufacturers employ fewer than 50 employees. Smaller firms have limited financial, corporate, and personnel resources to use for employee recruitment and training; therefore, SCMEP intends to focus its services heavily on those small employers who need such assistance.
As an initial step, SCMEP has formed partnerships with several organizations to better implement training services to plastics manufacturers. So far, five technical colleges have offered to provide customized training course content as needed--Tri-County Technical College, Greenville Technical College, the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, York Technical College, Central Carolina Technical College, and Trident Technical College. SCMEP has also joined with the Society of the Plastics Industry, or SPI, (www.socplas.org) a trade organization representing the entire plastics industry, which will provide multiple options and sites for curriculum development and certification.
Plastics in South Carolina
According to SPI, there are 27,400 plastics jobs in South Carolina (2000 figure), which means the state ranks 20th in the nation in plastics employment. SPI also notes that plastics shipments totaled $5.8 billion in 2000, or 17th in the country. Those figures have been rising steadily since 1991. That compares with 1.5 million jobs and $330 billion in shipments in the United States as a whole.
South Carolina's plastics sector is projected to grow at four times the rate of the entire manufacturing sector. Most plastics manufacturers are located in rural areas, making their workforce availability plight that much more critical. To make matters worse, employee turnover is a significant factor at 48 percent. Most employers cite the competition for skilled labor with other local manufacturers as one of the main causes of turnover.
Most plastics employers say they provide continuing education and training for their employees (83 percent), and 94 percent indicate they are willing to seek training support from outside resources. Most employers agreed with SCMEP the industry often needs to re-train fundamental math, reading, and writing skills for new employees.
Using this information as an assessment of the current state of the plastics sector, SCMEP plans to spend grant monies to integrate employer, prospective employee, and a multitude of resources into a single workforce readiness solution.
The Final Impact
In 1999, SCMEP made the strategic decision to target the plastics and metalworking industries of South Carolina by developing collaborative programs aimed specifically at solving these industries' issues. SCMEP's technical staff visited the sites of plastics and metalworking manufacturers, met with plant managers and CEOs, and discussed their industry issues. Many of these manufacturers requested assistance from SCMEP, which took the form of assessments, technical assistance, and long-term projects, engaging multiple and diverse resources. Since 2000, SCMEP has served a total of 31 plastics manufacturers, performed 26 in-depth assessments, and conducted 40 projects. Through the program offered to these industries, and the value that this assistance brings to the bottom line of plastics and metalworking companies, SCMEP has gained credibility and attention as a respected technical and business resource. Seven plastics industries were surveyed in 2001, and reported impacts from SCMEP's efforts with them as:
- $5.6 million in cost savings
- $200,000 in increased sales
- $5.1 million in capital investment
- 30 new jobs created
- 2 jobs retained.
Through grant projects to be implemented at plastics companies, SCMEP estimates it will place 20 workers in unfilled plastics jobs in the next year.
A Combined Effort to Solve Industry Problems
This Critical Skills Initiative's "Industry Workforce Consortia," made up of the partners described earlier, will collaborate and share their combined knowledge to meet workforce goals. "This initiative brings together the whole spectrum of resources, and focuses them upon the core issues--which are derived directly from the specific needs identified by plastics employers," says John Irion, SCMEP president. "This approach permits us to study and learn specific issues, pick and choose the right solutions, and implement a training program to meet the needs of the employer and the employee. The end product is a process that is flexible, unique, and portable, with repeatable elements."
As grant implementation begins, SCMEP will bring together plastics employers, prospective plastics employees, and the multitude of resources in the marketplace to construct a dynamic solution for the critical skills gaps that exist in the industry.
If you are a plastics employer interested in participating in this program, please contact SCMEP representative Charles Rampey at 803-754-2521 or crampey@sc.rr.com.
