Manufacturing 101 and a bright Sussex County future

In the back corner of a parking lot at Woodbridge Middle School in Bridgeville stands a tall, unornamented, metal building. Inside is the shining future of America.

Students who choose to walk through its doors are staking their claim to a country that believes that time plus effort equals accomplishment. And in accomplishment comes satisfaction and a sense of purpose.

The building houses Delaware Tech's Innovation and Training Center.

When Woodbridge School District built its new high school, the former high school became a middle school, and the building that housed the former high school's trades training was no longer needed. That's when Del Tech seized an opportunity to bring successful manufacturing training programs from its upstate campuses to Sussex County.

According to Chris Moody, Del Tech's director of workforce development and community education, the center gives high school students an opportunity to jump into a manufacturing career path early in their education. In partnership with employers looking for a trained workforce, and with Woodbridge School District and the Delaware Department of Education that approved the program, the center hosts juniors and seniors from Seaford and Woodbridge school districts who want to develop a marketable foundation for manufacturing jobs. In Sussex County, growing manufacturers – like Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Aloft AeroArchitects which installs expanded fuel tanks on large aircraft, and Atlantis Industries which manufactures a variety of products – need a steady supply of workers who understand the needs of a manufacturing facility.

They learn how electrical systems work, how to assess problems and how to fix them. They learn about pneumatics and hydraulics, mechanical connections, valves and flow meters. They learn about production assembly and programmable logic controllers, known as PLCs. And above all, they learn about safety in the workplace. It's all designed to keep the manufacturing process moving forward.

Any kind of accident or incident in the workplace can halt or slow manufacturing. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) keeps close tabs on workplace environments to avoid accidents.

"Many manufacturers have metrics for OSHA. They are discussed daily in the manufacturing environment," said Moody. "At Aloft, they follow principles of lean manufacturing, which places a high premium on accounting for every tool, every nut and bolt. And that's part of what is taught in our manufacturing training program. All of this is changing the perception of manufacturing from something once considered dirty to now a clean environment of high technology and innovation."

Two pathways to follow

High school juniors entering the program choose a pathway toward manufacturing logistics or actual hands-on manufacturing. Over the course of the next two years, they travel to the center two days one week and three days the next week, fitting the training into class schedules at their high schools. Moody said when finished, they have completed 600 hours of training. From there, he said, they can go straight into the workforce; they can apply that training for up to 14 credits at Del Tech if they want to continue with their education, or they can continue college and work part time.

During their senior year, they take tests for nationally recognized certification. "They are extremely difficult tests," said Moody, "but if they pass, it indicates to employers that they know something."

He said students can earn certification in first aid, OSHA 10 relating to safety in the workplace, and forklift operation. "Those are all very marketable certificates," said Moody.

The training starts in a room of the building with rows of computers. There, the students learn theory about the different systems they will eventually work with. "They can work on those programs here or at home," said Moody.

"Then they move out onto the training floor where they start to apply what they have learned on trainers designed to give them hands-on experience." The trainers are workbenches set up with components for different kinds of systems. They can create problems which the students have to recognize, assess, and figure out how to fix. Teachers in the room help the students as needed at the training stations.

Moody said students in the program, now in its third year, can apply for internships at various companies in Sussex between their junior and senior years. "They earn $10 an hour, and they and the employers can both get a feel for how the program is working. They also take field trips to different companies to see how what they're learning translates into the workplace."

Moody said the program can handle up to 20 students per class. At this point, those numbers include 80 percent men and 20 percent women. He said through a federal grant, adults who want to retool their own careers or just get a new start can also take classes at the training center. Their program, he said, can be completed in four months.

It's all part of Del Tech's focus on workforce development. The numbers are impressive. Moody said there are currently 4,800 students in the associate of arts degree programs at Del Tech's Owens Campus in Georgetown. Counting all programs, there are 12,000 students currently involved in workforce development at the campus.

That bodes well for the future of Sussex County, and the companies that want to locate and grow here.