A strong pipeline of workers is crucial to the success of Alabama’s aerospace industry, and workforce development efforts are aiming for a head start.
A growing number of training programs in the state are targeting high school students, and even those in middle school, to put them on an early path to career success.
These are the kind of initiatives that can put Alabama on the front foot as the state’s business recruiters work to expand the aerospace industry at events like the 2022 Farnborough International Airshow, now under way near London.
One good example is the program lineup at Flight Works Alabama, a 15,000-square-foot aerospace education center that opened nearly two years ago near the Airbus manufacturing plant in Mobile.
The facility, which hosts field trips and other tours, is home to more than 40 exhibits. It also directs learning programs including FlightPath9, a pre-employment training program for high school seniors that covers skills and certifications for an aviation career, and We Build It Better, which provides classroom kits to instruct middle school students in 21st century work skills including product design, electrical wiring, fiber optics and coding.
Co-op programs and apprenticeships that involve high school juniors and seniors have been around for a long time and continue to be popular, said Ed Castile, director of AIDT and Deputy Secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce.
So, expanding those opportunities and moving to capture the interest of younger students is a logical next step as Alabama continues to build a pipeline of workers for aerospace and other industries.
“If they are a high school junior or senior, they may have already missed some things that could have helped them make a decision about a career path, because students start choosing electives for high school in eighth grade,” Castile said.
And as anyone with children or grandchildren know, he added, today’s kids are learning complex technology earlier than ever, mastering smartphones, video games and a host of other gadgets and electronics that are part of their daily lives.
“They’re sponges and crazy smart,” Castile said. “Think about what they’re growing up with that we didn’t have a generation ago, in terms of technology. Put all that together, and we’ve got what should be and can be a superior workforce, if they come through school and we get them on the right track.”
TECH SAVVY
Several aerospace industry employers in Alabama are involved workforce training at the high school level.
For instance, Boeing’s FlexFactor program aims to build awareness among high school and college students about career paths in the advanced manufacturing sector.
In the Huntsville area, where Boeing launched FlexFactor in 2018, high school students toured the company’s facilities, learned about various aspects of the manufacturing environment and participated in a pitch competition for products they designed in response to a real-world problem.
In another initiative, the Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School is set to open next month in Bessemer.
Funded for 150 students, the charter school so far has enrolled about 100 students from across the Birmingham metro area. It will offer traditional high school courses, as well as electives organized into different STEM career pathways, such as aircraft maintenance, aerospace engineering and computer science.
The school has partnered with local universities and manufacturers on curriculum and training programs.
Castile said Alabama’s workforce is growing with young people who have a keen interest in the technology and skills and required for jobs in the aerospace and aviation industries.
“What we see across the state is more than half the workforce we’re working with now is young millennials and younger, and that’s good news because they’re going to be with us for a while,” he said.
Young people who have grown up with technology in their daily lives are accustomed to it changing frequently, which also translates well into today’s advanced manufacturing environment.
“Think about it, our phones are changing monthly. And it’s the same thing with automation in manufacturing out in the work world. Having kids growing up with this is a huge plus,” Castile said,
AIDT works closely with Alabama’s K-12 school system and community college system to facilitate a smooth transition among workforce training programs and ensure they teach the skills companies are looking for, Castile added.
“The customer is key. None of it makes sense if we don’t follow what the customer needs, and that helps us meet the promise we made in helping them find workers,” he said.
