ST. PAUL, MN - The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded South Central College two Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP) grants totaling $69,542 to address regional workforce training needs.
"Investments in job training are critical to ensuring that all Minnesotans have the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow," said Lt. Governor Tina Smith. "These Job Skills Partnership grants are a win-win for our state's economy - providing workers in southern Minnesota access to high-quality jobs, and employers the workforce they need to grow."
"As the demand for technical skills grows among manufacturers, the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership program is seeking to support the needs of our businesses," said DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben. "We are grateful for the Mankato area manufacturers' commitment to Minnesota, and are happy to assist them in their efforts to expand operations."
A $48,943 grant will support advanced training for 80 All Flex Flexible Circuits employees to help the company reduce operational costs and continue to grow.
A $20,599 grant will be used to increase the skills of 21 manufacturing employees from six Mankato area manufacturers.
South Central College, All Flex Flexible Circuits, $48,943
All Flex, located in Northfield, has 154 employees involved in the design and manufacturing of high-tech flexible circuits. South Central College will partner with All Flex to customize high-level training designed to reduce process variation.
Eighty employees will receive training with training modules dependent on their role and responsibilities. The curriculum will include: Voice of the Customer, Basic Statistics, Data Types, Seven Process Wastes, Problem Identification, Root Cause Analysis, Seven Quality Tools, Measurement Systems Analysis, Statistical Analysis, Process Capability, Design of Experiment, Implementation and Change Management, Standard Work, and Control Plan and Sustainability.
Training will help All Flex to reduce operational costs and continue to compete. South Central College's new curriculum will benefit other companies.
South Central College, Manufacturing Consortium, $20,599
The training project will addresses an immediate need of six Mankato area manufacturers to increase the skills of their maintenance technicians. The participating manufacturers include: Bic Graphics, Mankato; All American Foods, Mankato; MICO, Inc., North Mankato; Tony Downs Foods, Madelia; Dotson Co., Mankato; and Creation Technologies MN, Inc., St. Peter.
They will assist South Central College in designing the curriculum, which will use a portable trainer unit to deliver hands-on training on programming, wiring, safety, and troubleshooting. Twenty-one maintenance technicians will complete Industrial Electrical training and Basic and Intermediate Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) training to enhance their skills. The portable trainer will be used for training at other businesses in the future.
For more information on both grants, contact Tom Kammer, South Central College, 507-389-7336.
The MJSP works strategically with businesses and educational institutions to train or retrain workers, expand work opportunities and keep high-quality jobs in the state. With support from Governor Mark Dayton and the Minnesota legislature, the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program has awarded $31.8 million since 2011 to train 36,161 workers and has leveraged $66.5 million in private funding.
