Gov. Scott Walker was in Green Bay today to see a partnership between educators and manufacturers aimed at boosting the state’s manufacturing industry.
Bay Link Manufacturing, a high-precision manufacturing lab housed at Green Bay West High School, is a partnership among the Green Bay Area Public School District, Northeast Technical College and the NEW Manufacturing Alliance. It’s designed to provide high school students with real-world manufacturing skills before they graduate.
“This is a great partnership that is providing students with relevant job-related skills,” Walker said. “It’s making sure young men and young women are learning more about manufacturing careers and it’s great that businesses are getting involved.”
Walker said he frequently hears from Wisconsin manufacturers that they don’t have enough skilled workers and that a program like Bay Lake Manufacturing could go a long way to solving that problem.
“Companies tell me if they could go out and get more work if they could consistently fill their open jobs. A program like this will create more skilled workers for our manufacturers, who are out there creating jobs,” he said.
Ann Franz of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance said the organization was approached by the Green Bay Area School District about the idea and that member businesses were eager to get involved.
“We are committed to doing what we can to expose young adults to careers in manufacturing and showing them what an exciting and interesting career it can be,” she said.
— By MaryBeth Matzek
For WisBusiness.com.
