News Articles

The Piedmont Triad is  is moving ahead with a lead organization for its advanced manufacturing cluster. Here's how Teresa Reynolds puts it: 

“It is our vision that the management of the advanced manufacturing  industry cluster would be led by a contractor that would help develop and implement short and long term strategies that will leverage the global manufacturing competencies of the Piedmont Triad Region.,” says Theresa Reynolds, PTP Senior Vice President and WIRED Project Manager.   Reynolds adds, “The Automation Federation has an extensive network of relationships in the advanced manufacturing cluster and they are very familiar with the tools necessary to engage manufacturers and to lead discussions that address the issues and barriers affecting advanced manufacturing.

You can read more here. 

Florida's Great Northwest released its new cluster analysis last week. Compiled by SRI, the report identifies key clusters to drive the region's economy. 

You can read more about the report here and here.

You can download a copy of the executive summary here. 

You can flip through the SRI presentation below. (Note: the typography is a little goofy, probably due to the translation from a Power Point to a PDF). 

You can visit the web site here.

Here is the next one article that profiles a union leader from Philadelphia. Cheryl Feldman demonstrates the vision required to implement sector-based models of education and training. 

Specifically, the approach emphasizes portable skills, credentials, and linkages to college wherever possible.

Here's an excerpt from her interview. 

Q: I've been reading about something called sector training. What is that?

A: [Sectors] are clusters of employment and career opportunities within an industry - health care . . . life sciences . . . manufacturing.. . . In the past, workforce development may have had training programs that really didn't drill down into a particular sector. . . .The sector initiative involves . . . really doing an assessment on what the needs of that sector are. From a workforce-development perspective, that incorporates not just the front-line workers, but what are the career-ladder opportunities?

Q: Hasn't a lot of workforce training just been getting people in the door, and then neglecting them in low-level jobs?

A: Absolutely. . . . The best sector initiatives are really approaching a strategy for changing those low-wage jobs into family-sustaining jobs - with health benefits and pensions - that are connected to career ladders.

Q: Give me an example.

A: The residential workers who are working in mental health and mental retardation. . . . There are very few credentials required. And there are no career ladders. . . . You get in that job, and with some exceptions, . . . there's really not anywhere you can go. We have an industry-partnership stakeholder group involved [in] creating a degree program that hasn't existed previously, that gives college credits for our behavioral-health technician program.

Q: After they've done all this work, what are they getting?

A: Two [partner] employers have agreed that the result of this work will be promotion, creating career ladders in direct patient-care delivery.

I encourage you to repeal article. Read more.

Supporting Sector Strategies in the South, a new white paper from Southern Growth Policies Board  (SGPB) and the National Network of Sector Partners (NNSP) highlights the success of five Southern states with workforce development solutions that are leading to the establishment and success of high-growth, high-wage industries.

The authors believe that this success can be replicated throughout the South. Download the paper.

In Montana, farmers are being trained on how to plant camelina, a  promising crop for the production of biofuels.

Farmers who plant camelina for the first time can get their seed costs reimbursed if they farm in the 32 counties of northern and eastern Montana covered by WIRED Montana's Agro Energy Plan.

The reimbursement program covers camelina seed costs of up to $1.30 per pound for a minimum of 10 acres and a maximum of 80 acres at seeding rates of three to five pounds per acre.

For more on how this innovation is moving into the market, read more. 

The web site of the Montana State University's Agricultural Marketing Center also contains tools to help farmers evaluate the biofuels option.

One supporter of the project is Bruce Bainbridge, an economist at Dawson Community College in Glendive. Bainbridge, who manages the DCC Clean Fuels Wired Grant, said he has been using the materials Schumacher has put on the Web to help individuals who are considering biofuels production.

Read more . 

You can visit the MSU web site to explore some of the briefing papers on biofuel production. 

If you have any interest on the changing fortunes of the US automobile industry, you will be interested in this report. Funded in part by the Mid-Michigan WIRED region, the report outlines how the employment structure will shift within the industry.