Manufacturing companies need skilled workers. High school and college graduates need jobs. It seems like there shouldn’t be a problem here. However, many manufacturers are struggling to find employees to fill quality, full-time technician positions.

Roger Snow, Vice President for Instructional Services at Ogden-Weber Technical College (OWTC), believes they have found a solution to the problem.

OWTC’s industrial automation apprenticeship, starting in the spring of 2019, aims to provide quality on-the-job training for high school students from some of the most prominent names in the manufacturing community. Better yet, the students are paid competitive wages while doing it.

And, if completed successfully, full-time employment in a burgeoning field after graduation.

“There’s a huge demand, obviously, with a push in about every single industry to start automating processes,” Snow said from his office on the OWTC campus. “Where there’s high demand, there’s high wage opportunities and a very open career pathway.”

The apprenticeship was made possible by a $200,000 grant from GOED, a program overseen by the Governor’s Office in conjunction with the Department of Workforce Services. The apprenticeship is a collaboration between Ogden and Weber School districts and industry partners Autoliv, Setpoint Systems, and Fresenius. It was designed to assist in this problem of demand for skilled automation technicians outstripping the supply.

In addition to providing quality employees for these businesses, the apprenticeship also addresses one of the biggest frustrations students have with high school and college education—namely the lack of actual, marketable job training.

“We have so many great teachers who are so passionate about what they teach, but we have done poorly at directly linking what happens in their classrooms to how you can use that in real life,” Snow explained.

“A portion of our efforts is to bring those industry partners into those classrooms.”

The apprenticeship is typically done via school work release. Students receive 2 periods off every other day and spend that time with the program’s industry partners where they will learn the nuts and bolts of the profession.

“They will actually be performing more meaningful, more relevant tasks to this career. In industrial automation they will be working alongside highly skilled maintenance techs to troubleshoot and maintain multi-million dollar robotic and assembly systems,” Snow said.

This type of hands-on apprenticeship has become somewhat rare in the modern business world.

“They won’t be making copies,” Snow continued. “They’re not sweeping floors. They’re not fetching coffee. This isn’t the stereotypical internship you would see. They will be working in a skilled trade doing skilled tasks.”

The program holds many other benefits. In addition to quality job training, the pay is higher than what is typically available to high school students. Depending on the company, students could start off at $10-13 an hour. And with experience and strong performance, that number has the potential to increase to $18-25.

Additionally, participants in OWTC’s apprenticeship program are able to “triple-dip” credit. The apprenticeship qualifies as high school credit, work hours towards certification at OWTC, and credit hours at Weber State University.

Best of all, if successfully completed, the apprenticeship leads to immediate full-time employment after graduation with a lucrative career path in front of them. Many senior managers in the industry got their start as technicians.

While just starting its initial run, Snow would eventually like to see the industrial automation apprenticeship spread to other programs at OWTC.

Matching skilled employees with eager companies — it’s an idea that’s almost crazy enough to work.