Industry leaders laud new Rapid Skills pilot project
Local and national industry leaders are welcoming the announcement this week of a provincial pilot project aimed at rapidly responding to the changing skills requirements of the automotive and advanced manufacturing workforce.
The $3-million Rapid Skills project will be seeking proposals to receive funding for retraining programs for laid off, at-risk or underutilized workers until the end of January.
“I really like the concept of micro credentialing and the expectations of the program,” said Shelley Fellows, co-founder of Radix Inc. and chair of Automate Canada.
“I also like that the provincial government has left it open to educational institutions and industry organizations to propose things that reflect local and regional needs.”
Fellows said the program will benefit not only traditional automotive firms largely centred in southern Ontario, but also the province’s growing automation, robotics, software, cybersecurity and IT sectors that are servicing the industry.
The disruption taking place in manufacturing is creating dilemmas for employers who don’t want to lose the core knowledge accumulated by experienced and skilled employees who have had their jobs reduced or eliminated by technology.
“Ontario’s businesses are evolving at a faster pace than our training system,” said Monte Mcnaughton, minister of labour, training and skills development said in a statement.
“Today’s announcement is a sign that our government is committed to the auto and advanced manufacturing sectors. We’re listening to industry’s best advice on how we can quickly adapt to meet their needs.”
The new program, which will offer 500 hours of training, will be focused on giving employees skills that are in demand in advanced manufacturing.
Organizations eligible to apply for Rapid Skills funding include colleges of applied arts and technology, employers, industry associations, unions, workforce development partners, First Nations governments, Indigenous institutes, not-for-profit organizations, Ontario’s publicly assisted universities, school boards and private career colleges.
“The program gives us the flexibility to up-skill our workforce and respond to the changing needs of our industry,” Fellows said. “As employers it allows us to improve our competitiveness.”
Jonathan Azzopardi, a member of the board of directors of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association and president of Tecumseh’s Laval Tool, is also enthusiastic in his support of the pilot project.
He feels small- and medium-sized manufacturers will be the biggest beneficiaries.
“Smaller and medium-sized businesses don’t have access to training in the way big firms do,” Azzopardi said. “They can’t afford their own training programs.
“However, smaller firms have to act like bigger companies because we’re all competing globally. We’re all being measured by the same stick.
“It’ll give us the same benefits from upgraded training as the larger-sized companies.”
Azzopardi, who is also past-president of the Canadian Association of Mold Makers, said the plan reminds him of the Second Careers program run by St. Clair College that offered an intense 12-week retraining curriculum for workers displaced during the economic downturn of 2008-09.
“Our own company used it for six people and it worked really well,” Azzopardi said. “We got back employees that were very good.”
Both Fellows and Azzopardi feel St. Clair College is the logical partner to oversee the establishment of the program in the region.
“I could see in six months a program scaling up,” Fellow said. “We already have a number of people from industry on advisory boards for the college.”