SLCC aerospace program gets boost from opportunity grant

By Brice Wallace 

A new Salt Lake Community College program aims to produce more skilled workers for Utah’s aerospace industry.

The aerospace assembly training program recently got a financial boost from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board, which provided the program with an economic opportunity grant of up to $120,000.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

The program will be open to both people aspiring to work in the industry and people already employed at aerospace manufacturing companies. SLCC expects to train 600 people and place them in the industry within the program’s first 12 months, with participants receiving 80-100 hours of “very specific” training.

The GOED funds will be used to retrofit space at SLCC’s recently opened Westpointe Workforce Training & Education Center in Salt Lake City’s Northwest Quadrant, purchase equipment for the site and get the first cohort of students involved.

“It’s in the state of Utah’s best interest now to ensure that we can provide the workforce necessary for the aerospace community and the other important industries such as tech and life sciences,” said Ben Hart, GOED’s deputy director. “It’s in our best interest to ensure that they have the workforce they need to expand.”

Rick Bouillon, associate vice president for workforce and economic development at SLCC, told the GOED board that trainees will receive a certificate upon completion of the program. Those already working at aerospace manufacturing companies will return to the company floors “and become such a higher-level value-add to the organization,” he said.

“This type of training, this type of technology, is very specific to the types of tools, how the tools are organized and literally how they’re laid out and presented to the type of work that needs to be done,” he said.

While SLCC already provides training in composite materials, the aerospace assembly training “is really the next step,” he said. “It will replicate the environment that those employees will see when they go back to their respective locations.”

GOED documents indicate that SLCC will offer foundational training to students desiring employment as an entry-level technician. Training will focus on technical skills, safety, working in a team setting and with supervisors, and the importance of quality and other elements as trainees start on a career path in aerospace manufacturing.

Bouillon said the program’s first cohort could be in place this month or in March. “That’s the type of responsiveness that a community college can deliver. … When it comes to workforce, with the driving and the input of collaborative corporate partners, we can get that turned pretty quickly,” he said.

Steve Eckley of Boeing said all newly hired production workers at the company will go through the program.

“Our production rates are increasing, our employment levels are increasing. … Our approach should be all the new shop floor mechanics, once they’re hired, would almost immediately go through this program,” he said.

“The purpose of that is to give them the strong foundational skills that Boeing, my training team, will take and advance more-technical projects and more technical-specific [activities] to the Boeing Co., and it’s going to get them up to speed much quicker than we would otherwise. So it’s really beneficial for us.”

Eckley said similar programs exist elsewhere in the U.S. “We’re kind of lagging, I think, in that department, quite frankly, but with SLCC’s partnership, we are getting back on track,” he said.

Utah needs to get its training programs to the level already reached by sites that have had programs in place for up to 10 years, he said. Boeing has some potential projects “that could drive a significant amount of work, and we want to be positioned here locally to be ready for that and have a scalable program to support that, assuming it does happen,” Eckley said. “ [There are] a lot of ‘ifs’ in there, but if we’re stagnant and don’t do anything now, we’re not going to be in a good position three to five years down the road.”

Bouillon and others said the program represents collaboration among industry, education and government. Bouillon said SLCC designs training curriculum to meet the needs of all industries, including the high-growth aerospace industry.

“We work with industry. They tell us what they need. We don’t tell them what they need,” he said.

Jerry Oldroyd, chairman of the GOED board, said this economic opportunity grant is unique because it is going to another governmental agency, SLCC.

“That’s not typically what we would see with an economic opportunity [grant],” he said. “The reason I feel this is important is because this is industry-driven. Workforce is a primary issue in the state right now. This is an opportunity to try to meet industry needs. This was brought in by industry, it was raised by industry, and this is the state of Utah trying to accommodate that kind of need.”{/mprestriction}