LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Unleashing the gliding, ruby-tipped prong, Las Vegas-area students manufactured everyday metal objects. The gleam from their creations holds the eye of around 200 employers.
Well ahead of President Donald Trump’s call for the renewal of domestic manufacturing, City of Henderson leadership is already welcoming industrial investment with a unique strategy: produce the workforce ahead of production.
Jared Smith, the City of Henderson’s economic development and tourism director, pointed to the Debra March Center of Excellence as the result of smart, public-private planning.
“The College of Southern Nevada has the expertise, has the programs in place that our people need to be trained in these programs,” he said. “We had the land; we built the building. They control all of the training. And companies come to us as partners to help solve those workforce challenges real quick.”
The idea is this. When a company signals its interest in building a facility in Southern Nevada, for example Haas Automation, hundreds employees must be trained on advanced manufacturing. The employer is then able to work in partnership with city staff and College of Southern Nevada educators to plan a college program and by the end of the semester workers can walk into the new plant.
“We’re really diving into the future of training and partnership between the private sector and the public sector,” Smith said.
Some potential employers can also compensate students for their coursework since it will directly translate into a career. The hands-on training comes from industry professionals interested in keeping pace with the evolving industry.
“The more that we can train our people and create a resilient workforce and are in a resilient city, the better we will be known nationally and worldwide,” Smith said.
Manufacturing 101
The whir of the machine shop couldn’t hide the enthusiastic vocal timbre of the manufacturing director, Dan Flick.
“If it’s industrial maintenance technicians, automation technicians, machinists, anything to do with making something, I mean, you can’t go wrong,” he said, tilting over a tabletop robotic arm.
Flick stood in his classroom, which was walled with the latest in automated machinery units. He said the outdated view of manufacturing, for some detractors, has missed the years of industry evolution.
“People think, I’m going to be in a factory doing one thing, pushing a button, changing a part, or watching a machine make ice cream,” Flick said. “Yeah, that’s not where you’re going to end up.”
Some work may be basic, but the equipment he teaches with is straight from the factory floor. Flick said many of his students have gone on to own and manage their personal companies with the education they have received.
“The world’s your oyster,” he said. “But you just got to stick to it. You got to understand the basics. And once you get that, it’s, it’s looking pretty good.”
Flick said interested students can email him on how to enter the program at daniel.flick@csn.edu or call 702-651-3727.
Assembly line of offers
From Amazon to Pepsi, potential employers are knocking on the classroom door for the educated workforce to wrap up their homework, including Jose Covarrubias, tool and dye manager at Sunshine Minting.
“Here in Nevada, it was hard to find skilled labor,” he said. “And once we partnered up with Dan Flick and his program, we were able to hire apprentices.”
The coursework also helping some employees who needed a retooling on computer numerical control (CNC) basics, according to Covarrubias.
“We hired five people that were very unskilled when it came to CNC machining,” he said. “Within halfway through the class, they had already completed maybe 300 programs at work. So, 100% of everything that was taught in class was something that they could use hands-on at work.”
The work comes with some benefits, as Covarrubias pointed to the starting apprenticeship pay at $22.50 an hour.
“On top of us paying for you to take these classes,” he said.
Covarrubias said the industry is seeing a large shortage of advanced manufacturing workers and noted the long line of employers waiting nearby.
“There’s like a list of 200 companies around Nevada that are all ready to hire and willing to hire and high-paying jobs,” he said.
The job is a far cry from working on a Model T assembly line, Covarrubias said, some may be surprised by the amount of computer work versus manual labor.
“I would say 60% of the work is done on the computer, and that’s really where these classes really come in place,” he said. “You are expected to get your hands dirty, but it’s not dingy, it’s a clean room with air conditioning.”
CSN courses are available mornings, afternoons, and evenings and can be made to fit student’s schedules, according to CSN. Potential employers include Blue Bunny, Haas Automation, Entek, Sunshine Minting, Pepsi, and Amazon.
