Haynes currently has eight enrolled in the apprenticeship program through Ivy Tech, including machine repair apprentice Dave Milliner.
Milliner bounced around from job to job in the manufacturing industry for 17 years before the opportunity to join Haynes' staff presented itself in July of 2011. He worked in production before entering the non-degree apprenticeship program in January of 2012.
He's seen his knowledge base grow tremendously, equipping him with the theories behind the physical acts of his job.
"It's one thing to go out and physically do the work," Milliner said. "I think going through Ivy Tech, you learn the whys and the hows. Sometimes when you’re at work you may learn the wrong way to do something. One of the things of going through a school like Ivy Tech is they’re teaching you the basics of being able to do it correctly."
The education he's receiving will increase his chances of higher earnings and advancement. It's also an opportunity to provide stability for his family after an uncertain ride through the industry over the last 20 years.
“If we look back since 2003, there’s some instability within the job market for everyone," Milliner said. "When you’re sitting there applying for a job, one of the things you need to do is differentiate yourself from the next person. Haynes has been here for over 100 years and hopefully it’ll be here another 100 years. We should all be planning for the worst and hoping for the best. God forbid if something ever did happen here, I think I would be in a better position versus someone who’s been working in a local shop."
For Patriot Porcelain, Ivy Tech has been a vital resource in other areas. When the ceramics manufacturer held a job fair ahead of ramping up production at the old Kokomo Pottery facility, of the 320 prospective applicants, only 14 were deemed hirable.
Since then, Ivy Tech has provided job training assessments at the facility to gauge the strong points and weak points of the staff. Equipped with that knowledge, the school can customize a training program to assist employees' efforts to broaden their skill sets to better serve Patriot Porcelain.
Patriot plans to become more involved in the high school programs getting off the ground at Ivy Tech in the coming years, but for now, the assessment program has been invaluable.
"I think that’s the ticket to what Ivy Tech does," president Jeff Van Weelden said. "Not necessarily putting interns into job positions, but also figuring out where people are in their work career and getting them to the level they need to be at. I think Ivy Tech does a great job. They fill a position within the community that’s needed to help young people and experienced professionals get to the next level they need to be at to fill positions."
One current Patriot employee, ceramics engineer Christine Coapman, has direct ties to Ivy Tech.
Retired from Delphi, Coapman signed up for a computer-aided drafting class at Ivy Tech last fall. Seeing her advanced skill, Ivy Tech offered her a position as an adjunct faculty, where she taught material science in the spring.
Her Business Professional Engineering group also meets at Ivy Tech. When Morales Group was looking for potential Patriot employees at its job fair, Coapman inquired about the openings, and Morales sent her to meet directly with Patriot executives, where she was hired as the third ceramics engineer for the facility.
The journey was something she never envisioned when she retired from Delphi, but she's found the experience rewarding as she's seen people better themselves.
“Helping people transition from where they were in high school or where they are in the current workforce, and getting them set in a more technical frame has been exciting," Coapman said. "Most of the students weren’t particularly interested in the science and technology aspects. But I think they come to Ivy Tech because they realize the workforce is changing, and they need a lot more technical background in science and math so they can progress and get a better job."
Sparking interest
At the Kokomo Area Career Center, advanced manufacturing career pathways have been offered the past three years, but interest has been minimal.
That's partly due to the fact that areas such as welding have seen interest levels triple in recent years. Accordingly, KACC tries to adapt a curriculum which is appealing to students, and not forcing them into something they aren't interested in.
“Our overall goal is simply this," KACC principal Jonathan Schuck said, "we want kids to have the skills and knowledge base that when they leave they’re either prepared to go in the workforce now or prepared to go into the next training to get ready for whatever direction they go.”
The welding program, led by Brian Mikesell, has been a hot ticket at KACC.
Students in his classes assemble and weld the fencing around the medians along Apperson Way, as well as around the perimeter of the renovated athletic facilities at Kokomo High School. It’s invaluable experience for kids who want to enter that career field. The city awards the students scholarships for their work.
“These are 14-, 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kids building products that our city and other cities across the United States are looking at now," Mikesell said. "I’m proud of all of them. They’re all leaving and getting good jobs. But, it all starts right here with small projects like this, and those skills are priceless. Whether the city were to pay them or not, they're gaining a skill. In 23 years teaching this, I've not had one kid that's graduated and not been able to find a job."
As Schuck and Mikesell have seen, a four-year college education is not appealing to everyone. Kids in Mikesell's classes often times go on to the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology in Ohio, where nine months of study leaves participants ready for the career field. Hobart has an impeccable job-placement rate of over 90 percent with an average starting salary of over $40,000 per year.
The idea of a shorter path to a good-paying job is appealing to kids like Western High School senior Blake Williams, who hopes to take the skills acquired in Mikesell's classes and parlay them into a spot at Hobart or a job as an electrician.
"I'd rather go to school for nine months than four years like a traditional college," Williams said. "I make decent grades, but I'm not really good at books. Sitting in a classroom for four more years isn't all that appealing. Overall, I like welding every day. It's fun to do and it seems like something I could make a career out of. I'm a hands-on kind of guy. I prefer dirty work to sitting in an office all day."
Mikesell said there could be upward of a million welding-related jobs created in the United States by 2020. In his first year at KACC six years ago, he had nine welding students. This year, he has more than 85. With the success of job placement for the young people in Mikesell's program, he's seeing an increased interest level in adults looking to entertain a career path in welding.
Through WorkOne, several underemployed adults who had never welded before underwent 49.5 hours of preparation for a 3G welding test under Mikesell's instruction, and 100 percent passed.
"It was really successful; They're card-carrying, certified welders now," Mikesell said. "Last year was the first year I'd ever taught adult welding, and we had six [students] in the first cycle."
Mikesell farms and coaches football in the fall, so adult welding classes aren't being offered this semester. He's hoping to do a cycle or two more in the spring.
"The thing about welding is that it's grown," he said. "Through the Great Depression it grew, and through this last recession it grew. It's stable. It can't be off-shored or automated, and therefore the human being can't be replaced. You can't send a bridge to China and bring it back."