INFAME Filling Manufacturing Workforce Pipeline

A unique business-education partnership is addressing one of Indiana’s most pressing workforce needs: training high-skilled talent for jobs in advanced manufacturing. INFAME is designed to build a pipeline of skilled workers to fill Hoosier manufacturing jobs by giving students hands-on business experience with a chance to earn a degree at the same time.

INFAME is part of the national Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education. Elwood-based Red Gold Inc. and Major Tool & Machine LLC in Indianapolis are two Indiana businesses involved in the program. 

Kendra O’Brien, vice president of human resources for Major Tool & Machine says, in addition to students, the program is open to adults looking for a career transition.

“They go to school three days a week and work for the sponsoring employer two days a week for about two years,” said O’Brien. “They earn an associate’s degree and get a wealth of job experience and then typically, the sponsoring employer offers them a position at the time that they graduate.”

O’Brien says finding a skilled workforce is particularly difficult in the manufacturing sector, regardless of the products companies manufacture.

Jon Adams, director of continuous improvement for Red Gold, says the program looks at the specific needs of businesses and then recruits students or adults to participate.

“Ultimately, we are having difficulty filling those skilled technician roles. It’s (also) difficult to fill them with folks that are work-ready, that bring in a multi-dimensional skillset and are well balanced with soft skills. We’re recruiting…high school students or incumbent workers, folks that really want to further their career in the skilled trades.”

Adams cites a recent study from the Brookings Institution that focused on the FAME program in Kentucky, which found the two-year graduate rate of FAME is about 85%, “which is superior to comparable technical programs where that graduation/completion percentage is 30-40%.”

The study also found the graduation salary level was superior in comparison to other programs. Adams says recently-graduated technicians could earn around $60,000 per year, which could increase to $90,000 after three years and then six figures after five years.

“(That) should be very attractive to young people. There is a prosperous life, a prosperous career to be found in the skilled trades,” said Adams.

Other companies involved in INFAME include Steel Dynamics Inc. (Nasdaq: STLD) in Fort Wayne and Warsaw-based Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZBH).