From the moment we wake up each morning, switch off the alarm clock, start the coffeemaker, flip on the radio, or do whatever else we do each day, we use manufactured products. Every object we ever utilize, in fact, has to be designed, engineered, and manufactured somewhere – and by someone. What’s interesting is that there aren’t many places around where people can still learn the skills needed to do those jobs. The Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center is one of those places, offering a Computer Design & Manufacturing Technology program. Not only do they offer a program, they have just been certified by the National Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS) as meeting national trade standards for their training.
NIMS is a non-profit organization formed to support the development of a skilled workforce for the metalworking industry. As such, it is the primary national voice for setting skills standards and certifying programs and individuals in the field. NIMS is also greatly involved with fostering a wide range of partnerships between states, schools, and companies actively employing certified workers.
Ted Luty, owner of Dorsey Metallurgy in Poughkeepsie and an active member of the advisory committee overseeing the NIMS program, stressed how valuable it was for the Hudson Valley to have one of the few training programs still actively training graduates for manufacturing jobs.
“When my father owned the business, there were three trade schools in Poughkeepsie alone,” Luty explained. “And companies like Ford, General Motors, and all sorts of other manufacturing giants had apprentice programs of their own. Those programs are gone.”
Presenting Ulster BOCES program director Mark Harris with the official NIMS certificate at a recent event held to celebrate the national honor, Luty commented upon how grateful he was to still have a local place from which to draw new employees and send his workers to learn new skills and processes. “Ulster BOCES is one of the few schools in the nation to offer a nationally accredited machinists program,” he explained.
Harris stressed how cutting edge the Ulster BOCES program stays. “When we certify our graduates, we know we are sending them into a workplace with the up-to-date skills that are needed,” he said.
Harris, in fact, had returned just a few hours prior to the event from a field trip to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. The purpose of the trip was to bring himself and his students up-to-date on some new technology being used at a research incubator sponsored by the college. Harris also spends much of his time during the summer observing and retraining with various companies, keeping himself current with the latest processes.
NIMS graduates, Career & Technical Center director Howard Korn pointed out, leave Ulster BOCES with a national “mark of approval” in the form of a NIMS certificate. “These credentials are very desirable,” said Korn. “They can take them anywhere in the country.”
Victor Melville, who represents the Society of Manufacturing Engineers on the East Coast of the United States and Canada, noted how valuable the NIMS certification was for graduates. “There is an ever decreasing number of places and programs in North America where individuals can get the kind of training that this program offers,’ said Melville. “NIMS sets the national standard, and meeting that standard means that each of your graduates can take their skills anywhere in North America and they will be immediately accepted.”
Harold King, executive director of the Hudson Valley Council of Industry, and Dominick Sfregola, director of the Ulster County Office of Employment and Training, were more concerned with keeping these students in the region and having a range of well-paying jobs for them to choose from once they graduate.
“We’re thrilled that graduates can take these credentials anywhere in the country,” King joked. “Just as long as they don’t – we want them, we need them, to stay right here!”
According to King, while manufacturing is not the biggest regional employer in the 21st Century, the Hudson Valley still supports 130 manufacturing companies, with a total employment roll of about 130,000 individuals. These employees, King pointed out, earn an average yearly salary of around $38,000, not counting any benefit programs.
“These are good jobs,” said King. “These are well-paying jobs. We want to do everything we can to provide for these firms and help to facilitate their continued success. Having the kinds of training programs offered by Ulster BOCES right here in Ulster County is a tremendous asset. We are one of the few places in the country that can say that.”
Sfregola stressed how closely his department works with Ulster BOCES to train individuals trying to get a leg up in the local job force, as well as to retrain others needing to upgrade or expand their skills base to stay competitive. “We’re really blessed in Ulster,” he said. “We not only have Ulster BOCES, but Ulster County Community College and SUNY New Paltz as well. Between them, we can handle just about any training need that we encounter.”
Last year, Sfregola’s office was instrumental is channeling over $450,000 in training grants through Ulster County’s schools and colleges to assist in re-training the local workforce for the 21st Century economy. “The effort requires all players to be at the table…our office, the economic development people, and the educational system,” he stressed. “Ulster BOCES has long been a partner with us in our work. It’s not just this program that we support and celebrate.”
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