Layout 1 (Page 3) - Cullman Area Workforce Solutions

CULLMAN AREA WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS,AUGUST 26, 2008
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2008-2009 CAWS officers elected
Officers for the Cullman Area Workforce Solutions group were elected in August
to serve for the 2008-2009 year.
Judy Bradford, Human Resources manager for Axsys Technologies in Cullman,
has been re-elected as president. Dan Plank, Human Resources officer at Rehau,
Inc., will serve as vice president. Both positions are one year terms.
Suzanne Harbin, Director of Institutional Development at Wallace State
Community College, was elected secretary/treasurer.
CAWS is an industry-driven organization that brings together business, industry, education and other community groups and entities to address workforce
needs in Cullman County. The initial focus was to assist industry find and train
quality employees in a shrinking labor pool.
Industry has long felt that the manufacturing jobs are viewed as dirty, unskilled,
low wage jobs with little future. The truth is that a majority of those jobs require
education beyond high school and there is far more math, science, computerization and technology in manufacturing processes than many believe. There is also
opportunity for advancement and the wage and benefit package is comparable to
many jobs requiring four-year degrees.
Cullman and Cullman County have a very diverse industrial base and a CAWS
goal is to show the community all of the job opportunities available here. That
focus includes targeting students, parents, educators and the general public.
With industry providing guidance on the skills needed in the workplace, the next
logical involvement is bringing together potential service providers to help address
those needs. Partners there have included Wallace State College, the Cullman
Alabama Career Center System, Adult Education, Cullman City School System,
Cullman County School System, Athens State, Alabama Technology Network,
Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce and others.
Bradford says a lot of students do not want to pursue a four-year degree and
business and industry wants to share information on job opportunities and the education requirements and skills needed for those positions.
CAWS has taken a two-pronged approach to workforce. The first is addressing
short term immediate needs with a heavy focus on assistance in identifying and
training workers for today's job. The second is more long-term and attempts to
focus more attention on students and partners and providing them with information about job opportunities in white collar business and industry. Bradford said
there is also a goal of forming a relationship with educators to give them that same
information.
Projects include paying teachers to work a week in the summer in local industry and writing lesson plans to take back to students about what they found in the
work place. There have also been career awareness fairs, job fairs at the schools
and projects to introduce students to real life work/family/income situations.
Another key element is targeting drop outs. There are few job opportunities for
students with less than a high school education and students need to be aware of
job openings there are for people who do not graduate or obtain a GED and how
low the average earning potential is for those non-graduates.
"I think we are making great strides" Bradford said. "We are pleased with our
progress,but not satisfied. We have to keep working on this issue every day."
OPENINGS/OPPORTUNITIES
Axsys Technologies, Inc., Precision Machined Products, also known as Speedring, LLC, has been
producing hardware for the space and defense markets since the beginning of space flight and has been
involved in some of the most visible, high national priority space and defense programs of the last 50
years.
Transportation Company
Diesel Mechanics
CDL Drivers
Administration
Tire Company
Commercial Servicess
Tire Technicians
Administration
Sales
Treading Company
Production
Industries
Accounting
Administration
Locations/Opportunities also outside of Cullman
How to apply: www.mcgriffindustries.com
How to contact:
1-800-950-0780 or 256-739-0710
By email: info@mcgriffindustries.com
EOE
Axsys PMP currently employees over 230 full-time employees in a variety of positions aimed at
supporting our customer commitments. Axsys jobs range from shop-floor manufacturing and
support positions to engineering, programming, sales/contracts, finance, administrative, clerical and
supervision/management positions. All positions require a High School Diploma or GED Certificate and
most manufacturing positions also require job specific certification from a post-secondary Technical/
Vocational program. Certain professional or management careers may require a 4-year college degree.
Typical Axsys hourly manufacturing employee total compensation package is:
Base wages for a typical hourly manufacturing employee $44,595.00
Benefits Package (including Health Insurance,
Benefits
Life and Disability Insurance, Vacations,
Holidays, Retirement, etc.)
Total Compensation Package
$ 20,245.00
$ 64,840.00
Remember, this is a typical base compensation amount for the Axsys manufacturing workforce. It does
not include any shift premium pay (10%) for night shift employment or any overtime pay that an employee
may work. It also does not include mandated benefits (social security taxes, worker’s compensation,
state/federal unemployment compensation taxes, etc.) that all employers are required by law to provide.
APPLICATION PROCESS FOR EMPLOYMENT AT AXSYS PMP
Axsys Technologies PMP lists virtually all job openings with the Alabama Career Center System located at
7th Floor, Tom Bevill Building, Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Alabama (256) 734-4911.
We also place advertisements for positions in local and regional newspapers.
Applications for employment may be obtained at the Career Center or resumes may be emailed to Axsys at
hr-cullman@axsys.com or sent via regular mail to Axsys Technologies, Inc. – Human Resources Department
– PO Box 1588 – Cullman, AL 35056.
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CULLMAN AREA WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS, AUGUST 26, 2008
Cullman Area
Workforce Solutions
receives
State Award
Cullman Area Workforce Solutions (CAWS) received the Community Economic
Development Award presented by the Economic Development Association of
Alabama (EDAA) in the category of Community Involvement in Communities with
a Population of 15,001 – 40,000. Cullman Economic Development Agency (CEDA)
accepted the award at EDAA’s annual conference held in June.
Cullman has been remarkably successful over the past 20 years recruiting new
industry and developing a speculative building program recognized as one of the
best in the Southeast, but our greatest accomplishment may be the relationship we
have with our existing industries and our attention to their needs. We began hearing
from our industries that they were encountering workforce issues due to decreased
interest in industrial fields and the onset of retirement with the Baby Boomer generation. Facilities continue to open and expand, with only a small pool of applicants
from which to choose. An obstacle closely tied to the labor shortage is the fact that
historically, many area students immigrate to larger cities such as Birmingham and
Huntsville to attend four-year colleges and do not return. It is imperative to educate
not only our students, but our parents about career opportunities that are high-wage
and that are available in the local area.
Cullman Area Workforce Solutions (CAWS) begin in the fall of 2006 as a partnership between business/industry, economic development, industrial relations, education, and social services in an effort to enhance and improve workforce development
outcomes in meeting the employment needs of the Cullman Area. CAWS is, above
all, an industry/business-driven organization with the desire to increase the awareness of employment opportunities in Cullman and the surrounding area and the skills
needed to qualify for these jobs.
CAWS created the following focus groups: Educators, Students, Employers, and
Underemployed / Dislocated Workers. Some of the programs identified and implemented by these focus groups include:
Teacher Exchange Program – Area educators work for two weeks during the summer at a local industry
Speaker’s Bureau – provides Educators with a source of personal contacts to assist
them in communicating “real-life” career information to their students.
“Keeping It Real” – Gives area 9th graders “real-world experience” in paying
household bills and making financial decisions for their mock family.
Cullman Area Career Awareness Expo – sponsor and coordinate an annual career
expo for the citizens of the Cullman area so that they can become knowledgeable
about the variety of business/industry located in our community and the career
options available to them.
“It is a privilege to accept this award on behalf of CAWS partnership”, stated
CEDA Director Peggy Smith. “This program is helping to address the needs of our
local business and industry community by educating the citizens on the jobs available and the skills required to obtain these careers without having to travel to support their families.”
The award will go on to compete regionally at the Southern Economic
Development Council’s annual conference in October 2008.
Peggy Smith, Director of the Cullman Econmic Development Agency, and Dale
Greer, a member of the Cullman Area Workforce Solutions (CAWS) Steering
Committee, accept an award on behalf of CAWS at recent annual conference of
the Economic Development Association of Alabama. The Cullman workforce
project received the Alabama Community of Excellence Award for Community
Involvement. As a statewide winner, CAWS will represent Alabama as the nominee from this state at the 17-state Southern Economic Development Council
annual meeting in Virginia. The SEDC program honors communities and projects that represent the best use of resources to solve problems and address community needs. Robert Ingram of Baldwin County and Presdient of SEDC makes
is making the presentation.
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PAGE 4
CULLMAN AREA WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS, AUGUST 26, 2008
Teachers experience work week in local Industries...
2008 CAWS Teacher Exchange Program
The CAWS Teacher Exchange Program for 2008 resulted in 18
teachers experiencing a work week in local industries.
Teachers representing both the Cullman County and Cullman
City School systems spent a 40-hour work week in the plants to
learn first hand about the operations and the types of skills workers
in those industries utilize on a daily basis to meet production.
CAWS, in conjunction with local industry, raises money to pay
the teachers to receive the work experience. Teachers are then
required to develop three lesson plans to carry back into the classroom to give students a taste of what the teacher experienced.
The idea behind the program is to counter many of the misconceptions associated with jobs in manufacturing, distribution, transportation and other industry jobs. CAWS participants believe there
are many potential job opportunities in industry that students never
hear about.
At the July CAWS meeting, teachers reported on those experi-
ences and almost every education representative expressed surprise
about what they saw. Most said they saw potential for many students who were not thinking about four year colleges.
Cullman County School Superintendent Hank Allen said he
hopes the program continues and noted that he would like to see
more educators participate. He said it would be a great professional development day for every teacher to tour industry.
CAWS President Judy Bradford told the teachers, "I'm
impressed. You guys got it. CAWS has been struggling with how to
get our message to the students. Kids can have a good career and
make a nice living for their family in local industry. Thank you so
much for participating and please encourage others to work with
us."
She expressed her appreciation to the industries that hosted teachers and also thanked the Cullman Employment Center for help in
coordinating and handling payroll responsibilities.
NAFCO is steel.
NAFCO is a world-class fabricator of
structural steel for:
- aggregates and materials handling
systems
- energy industry equipment
- forest products handling equipment
- general building construction
- unique, client-specific steel projects
From the Carolinas to Texas, from
Ohio to Florida, or from Australia to
South America, NAFCO has met the
challenge project after project.
With a 200,000 square foot, state-ofthe-art shop in Cullman, Alabama,
NAFCO has the capacity and the
expertise to handle your most challenging steel projects.
Although NAFCO is blessed to have
the foremost facilities and equipment
within our industry, our greatest asset
is still the quality and integrity of our
craftsmen.
We continue to maintain diversity
between long-term experienced
employees with an average tenure of
over 15 years and the eagerness of
young hires desiring to learn a true
apprenticeship in manufacturing.
NAFCO maintains an open-shop
workforce environment offering excellent healthcare benefits and competitive wages with opportunities to excel
in the various disciplines and trades
common in its engineering and manufacturing operations.
PAGE 5
CULLMAN AREA WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS, AUGUST 26, 2008
Connie Hilton, English and Spanish
teacher at Vinemont High School. Worked
at Summa Technologies. Summa is a metal
fabricating company with a focus on military production. "I worked in the paint
room and drilled through metal on a
machine that was like a power tool on
steroids. I saw all kinds of things and a lot
of opportunities."
“A college degree is not for everyone. I
saw that we do not need to mold every student to fit in the same round hole. This
experience will give me an opportunity to
help more students. Thank you."
Teachers comment on CAWS Exchange Program
Sandra Tucker of the Cullman Area Career
Center, went though the truck driver trainer orientation at McGriff Treading
Company in Cullman. She also visited the
retread shop and retail divisions at the
company. "It must be a good place to work
because there are a lot of long term
employees. A lot of the jobs do not require
college degrees."
Holly Pond High School biology teacher
Mark Cornelius worked at Rehau. He
admitted he had never been in a plant. "It
was efficient and organized." He witnessed painting, glue, testing and other
areas. "I can say to students I saw this at
Rehau and you can make a good living if
you learn this processs. The experience
will make me a better teacher and result in
you getting a better worker."
Brenda Allison, Hanceville Middle
School: Worked at Wal-Mart Distribution
Center.
"I was impressed with the flexibility in the
work schedule. You can work three days,
four days, weekends...they work with the
employees." She felt the company cared
about associates.
Nathan Ayers worked at Louisiana Pacific
in Hanceville. The Holly Pond High
School teachers learned about logging
operations, selective harvest tree farms,
and converting the raw material into OSB
(particle board). "I'm a science guy and I
will be able to relate what I saw to what
kids need to learn. Thank you for the
opportunity."
Michele Pender of Hanceville Elementary
said American Proteins offered "fascinating work." She was impressed with the
team work and how all of the departments
were linked. She noted that weights, measures, creativity, math, science, and computer applications were integral to the
process.
Seated (Left to Right): Jennifer Carmack, Vinemont High School; Kim Oliver, Vinemont High
School; Denise Feldner, Cullman Area Career Center; Connie Hilton, Vinemont High School;
Susan Sellers, Cullman High School and Susan Sapp, Cullman High School.
Standing (Left to Right): Nathan Ayers, Holly Pond High School; Tim Sellers, Fairview High
School; Mark Cornelius, Holly Pond High School; Sandra Tucker, Cullman Area Career Center;
Brenda Allison, Hanceville Middle School; Julie Berry, Cullman Primary School and Misti Allison
Bressette, Cullman High School.
2008 Participants Not Pictured: Tony Johnson, Vinemont High School; Michelle Pender,
Hanceville Elementary School; Karen Perry, Cullman High School and William Troutman,
Hanceville High School.
OUR PEOPLE
MAKE THE
DIFFERENCE
WAL-MART LOGISTICS
WAL-MART DISTRIBUTION
2200 7th St SW
Cullman, AL 35055
256-739-0763
Career Opportunities
Wal-Mart Distribution
2200 Seventh Ave. SW
Cullman, AL 35055
Wal-Mart Distribution in Cullman, AL offers careers in many different fields and on
various working schedules to meet the needs of today’s busy lives;
Order Selectors
Loader / Unloader
Processors
Forklift Drivers
Full time and Part time schedules are available.
Flexible schedules can be considered and customized for applicants and students.
Competitive starting wages with automatic, progression pay raises
Quarterly incentive bonus payments
Comprehensive benefit package includes;
BCBS Health care insurance; Personal choice options
Health Saving’s Accounts with Company contributions
Value Plan
Short-term & Long Term Disability Insurance
Company provided life insurance
Optional life insurance and dependent life insurance
Associate discounts
Profit Sharing and 401k Plans
Vacation / Holiday / Personal Time off
Illness Protection Benefits
Career advancement and transfer opportunity available
WE ARE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Applications can be done on-line at www.wal-mart.com or at our hiring center at our
distribution center at the address listed above.
Fairview High School math teacher Tim
Sellers spent his 40 hours at Topre
America. Topre is a Japanese metal stamper that supplies parts to automotive
plants. Sellers talked about huge rolls of
metal (coils) used to begin the manufacturing process. The blank piece of metal
moves through several processes, primarily with the assistance of stamping presses
and robots, to make a finished part. The
machines bend, shape, punch holes, weld
and make other modifications to the
metal. "It gave me some ideas I can take
back to the classroom."
Denise Feldner from the Cullman Career
Center worked at Cullman Electric
Cooperative. "It was a great experience."
She was surprised at the variety of jobs in
the energy field. "I now know the skills we
need to teach students to work in this
industry."
Topre America Corporation, located in Cullman, AL , serves the
automotive industry in the southeastern United States. In
addition to our business concerns, we strive to be first-rate
corporate citizens by active participation in advancing
economic and social progress through ethical leadership,
stewardship and community-building activities to improve the
quality of life for Cullman County residents.
The following is a partial listing of the
employee benefits we offer at
Topre America.
Below is a listing of some of the jobs
performed by Topre America
employees.
Medical Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Short Term Disability Insurance
401(k) Savings/Retirement Plan
Life Insurance
Holidays:
Paid Vacation
Press Department
Assembly Department
Engineering Department
Quality Department
Maintenance Department
Gorika Department
Material Department
Administration Department
Human Resources Department
Sales Department
Skills / Education Required for Employment at Topre America
All job applicants must have a High School Diploma or GED. Minimum
requirement of a High School Diploma or GED for all positions
Application Process for Employment at Topre America
Topre America posts job listings with Alabama Career Center located on Katherine Street in Cullman,
Alabama. The Career Center will take applications when we inform them of anticipated job vacancies.
We also place advertisements for positions in local and regional newspapers.
Applications for employment may be obtained at the Career Center. Resumes may be
emailed to Topre America at toprehr@topreamerica.com.
Topre America Corporation
1580 County Road 222 Cullman, AL 35057
PAGE 6
Employees cope with change...
Fire destroys Cullman office of the
Alabama Career Center Systems
A fire that destroyed the Cullman office of the Alabama Career Center Systems has
individuals in the job search market and groups that help employers link up with those
potential employees having to cope with change.
The Alabama Career System office, located behind the North Cullman Shopping
Center, was uninhabitable after flames gutted the building June 30 and the service is
operating from a new location.
The old building housed the Career Center, Career Link, Employment Service, Adult
Education services and Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Many job seekers used onsite computers to update their resumes and post them on the center data base. Employers
have immediate access to the data base and often came on site to test, screen and interview potential applicants,
Don Willoughby, assistant manager of the Employment Service division, said the
Cullman office has relocated and is fully functional. “These services are important to
people looking for work and companies as well. We focus a lot on employee-employer
issues. The Career Link facilitates training with Workforce Investment Act funds for
local companies.”
Willoughby said the center “tries to define the need and get it addressed.”
The Career Systems office has relocated to the campus of Wallace State College in
Hanceville. The temporary location is located on the seventh floor of the Tom Bevill
Building. The same telephone number (256-734-4911) is still in effect. The office is
open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Willoughby thanked Wallace College President Dr.Vicki Hawsey for providing the
center with building space. “She made it possible for us to continue operating.”
Adult Education, both day and night classes, has relocated to the basement of the
Cullman Civic Center. The cell phone there is 205-288-9611 and the office is staffed
Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Adult Education services may also be
accessed by calling Wallace College at 256-352-8078.
Vocational Rehabilitation Services may be contacted by calling 800-671-6838.
CULLMAN AREA WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS, AUGUST 26, 2008
PAGE 7
CULLMAN AREA WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS, AUGUST 26, 2008
*
Welding
and other technical courses.
www.carcam.org
“This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DUE-0501328.”
*Data received from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 20062007 edition and In Demand, Careers in Advanced Manufacturing, Issue 3.
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CULLMAN AREA WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS, AUGUST 26, 2008