Long a center of manufacturing, factories in Lake County were once a place where a high school diploma and a skill or two learned there led to middle-class life. Producing goods still offers a nice livelihood, but for many computer skills replaced turning a wrench.
Jim McConoughey, the newly appointed director of the College of Lake County’s manufacturing alliance, said a constant in the industrial world over the years is a good workforce. Industrialists, educators and community leaders are all part of nurturing it.
McConoughey said as he talks to people in the manufacturing field, the one thing he hears most often is the need for a strong workforce with 21st-century skills. Still in formation, the alliance will be designed to do that.
“This will be a manufacturing alliance of manufacturers, by manufacturers, for manufacturers,” he said. “This will be a really robust organization to address manufacturing issues. We will (also) address economic development issues.”
The College of Lake County recently decided to create a manufacturing alliance based at its Grayslake campus to bring a diverse group of influencers together, with an initial meeting in June and a launch in October.
Without a formal name as of yet, McConoughey said at the initial meeting of influencers in June, choosing a name will be on the agenda. It could be the Lake County Manufacturing Alliance, or the group may give it another title.
Kevin Considine, the president and CEO of Lake County Partners, will be one of the influencers. He foresees representation from global manufacturers like Abbott and AbbVie, and locally owned businesses like Fischer Paper Products. They will all have a role.
“They all know what they need to look like in five years,” he said. “That is the insight we need at the table. We are experiencing a demographic shift nationwide. This is an opportunity to discuss the needs of the workforce, and work together to mold the talent.”
With the college already teaching a variety of manufacturing skills at its Advanced Technology Center in Gurnee and elsewhere, McConoughey said the school is a key player in the county’s manufacturing industry as it prepares individuals for jobs.
Many people choose to go to the college to earn an associate’s degree, and move to a four-year university to obtain a diploma. McConoughey said others are there at either the tech campus for high school students learning manufacturing skills, or to get a certificate in a specific trade from welding to being a machinist. They lead to jobs.
“There are a lot of diverse trade programs at this school,” he said. “For a lot of these students, their second language is computer code. It’s a new dynamic of excellence. We have a list of manufacturers who want to hire them.”
Finding ways to place people with skills learned like welding elsewhere, such as in the military, is another idea. McConoughey said he wants to explore ways to speed their path to a credential and work.
“If they learned how to weld on a submarine, let’s find a way for them to take fewer classes and get certified quicker,” McConoughey said. “They don’t need to learn what they already know.”
Along with people from a variety of industries and the college, Considine said bringing high school educators into the alliance is important, too. The tech campus located near CLC in Grayslake is already teaching teens manufacturing skills.
“The days of walking into a manufacturing job with a high school diploma have passed,” Considine said. “Starting at the tech campus, students can come out of high school and roll into an apprenticeship.”
Bringing manufacturers together can also create discussions of how they can help each other, McConoughey said some factories in Lake County make the parts others use to create an end product. Working together, they will not have to worry about a ship arriving from overseas.
“This is controlling the supply chain so there is not a shortage,” he said.
