14 MiMfg Magazine July / August 2022
hands-on work experience to balance classroom theory . Most co-op arrangements lead to full-time employment for students after graduation .
Dave Maurer , President of Kalamazoo-based Humphrey Products , is a big believer in co-op programs ’ ability to nurture tomorrow ’ s manufacturing professionals today .
“ This continues to be extremely successful for us ,” Maurer says . “ Providing the hands-on experience has always worked the best . So , getting them in the shop and getting them started and kind of moving them through various areas of the manufacturing environment , that ’ s what we try to do .”
Often times , students will start the training program with little to no experience . That ’ s when they ’ ll get started in a small role learning the foundational aspects of manufacturing work such as being able to measure parts and operate basic tools such as calipers and micrometers , according to Maurer . These are vital skills to have for anyone hoping to find full-time employment at Humphrey Products and most other manufacturers .
Sometimes , programs are so successful that they ’ re adopted as an industry-wide practice . That ’ s the case with the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education , or FAME , which was started as a pilot program internally at Toyota to train multiskilled
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Steve Heethuis , Training Director at Autocam of NN Inc ., works with a co-op student on the production floor .
maintenance technicians , then evolved to the current model . This model produces “ global-best , entry-level multiskilled maintenance technicians ” through a rigorous five-semester work-study program that now has more than 30 chapters across a dozen states with more than 1,500 graduates who benefit from 85 percent placement into full-time work with their sponsoring employer .
Meg Wallace , Senior Engineer at Toyota Motor North America Research and Development in Saline , says interest in the program from other employers quickly spread beyond the walls of Toyota . They started organizing chapters at different locations which included dozens of different employers . Eventually , the program scaled up to a point that , in 2019 , Toyota decided to hand it over to The Manufacturing Institute ( MI ) to help strengthen the program and grow it nationally . The MI is the workforce and education partner of the Washington , D . C . -based National Association of Manufacturers , the country ’ s largest trade group for manufacturers .
Adoption by your competitors has to be the best form of flattery in the manufacturing world . So , what exactly has made this program so successful ?
“ I think that it ’ s academically rigorous and students will rise to the occasion if you set the bar high ,” says Wallace . “ That ’ s just one reason . I think that it ’ s also a good structure for employers to get involved .
To take part in FAME , students enlist in a community college that serves as the chapter ’ s educational partner . Taking their cues from employers , curriculum is developed to specifically cater to dynamic industry technology , processes and needs .
“ How it works is that employers help recruit students into the program . Once the employers settle on the students that they want to work with , the students will work for the employer three days a week and go to school at the community college two days a week .”
Currently , there is no FAME chapter in Michigan but Wallace and others are working on it with a