business backgrounder | education and workforce
training strategy boosts regional resilience
Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Development Board’ s Maddie Merton says workforce development efforts like Clover Park’ s Accelerated Mechatronics program keep Pierce County competitive.
“ Programs like this don’ t just fill jobs— they prove our region is serious about workforce innovation,” she said.
According to the AWB Institute, Washington had 271,207 manufacturing jobs in 2024. Based on national trends, up to 25 % of Washington’ s manufacturing workforce— nearly 67,800 people— could be at or nearing retirement by 2030.
Skills like robotics, controls, and CAD shift every 6-12 months. Employers must upskill to keep valuable employees and remain competitive.
“ People need to learn while they work,” said Clover Park’ s Wenngren.
Programs like Clover Park’ s accelerated mechatronics option keep our local workforce current with the latest skills and help our region attract new investment, said Merton.
“ It’ s so optimized. The lab is set up exactly like a manufacturing platform— just a really high-tech, beautiful space,” she said.
Merton brings visitors to the facility a couple of times a year.“ Every time I bring a company out, they say,‘ I didn’ t know this was here— how do I start hiring from it?’”
The training partnership offers a model to grow talent within a company’ s existing workforce, and an important strategy to boost the resilience of the manufacturing sector strong in our region and state.
“ When students graduate from programs like this, most already have their roles lined up. And the companies who got involved early? They’ re the ones ahead of the curve,” said Merton.
Merton believes Clover Park’ s program should serve as a template for region-wide workforce innovation.
“ It’ s not just scalable. It’ s exactly what Pierce County needs to stay competitive— and keep talent local,” she said.
“ The emotional journey students go through is incredible. Excitement, frustration, triumph. You see that moment something clicks— the confidence, the capability. That’ s the heart of it.”
— Mike Mavor, instructor at Clover Park Technical College
real-time results for the factory floor
Clover Park is ready to offer the model to partners in aerospace, logistics, food processing, and utilities.
Faculty members build trainings based on employer facilities, using real schematics, control panels, and platforms such as FANUC, Allen-Bradley, and Siemens, said Wenngren.
Students’ enhanced critical thinking skills also apply to old technology, such as a 1970s-era system that current workers didn’ t know how to fix.
With hands-on exercises, schematic and diagnostic skills from the mechatronics lab, a newly promoted technician returned to Trident and reverse-engineered that 40-plus-year-old legacy relay system.
“ He mapped out the machine’ s internal logic and created documentation that’ s now the main reference for converting it to PLC control,” said Michael Mavor, mechatronics instructor.
42 association of washington business