Choosing the right pathway

PTDA's Industrial Careers Pathway initiative continues to grow with industry-wide support

By Kimberly Griffiths, Associate Editor -- Industrial Distribution, 9/1/2005

When it comes to finding qualified, affordable, entry-level employees, industrial distributors tend to first, acknowledge that it's a challenge, and then, plug through their own interviewing process, putting faith in their gut instincts and what the prospective employee tells them they are capable of doing for them.

This challenge is noted by most every genre in the industry, but the Power Transmission Distributors Assn. has made strides in creating a solution to finding and educating those prospective employees: The Industrial Careers Pathway.

The PTDA Foundation, the charitable arm of the association, launched ICP, a major workforce development project, in 2000, and has since partnered with 21 other distributor and manufacturer associations and supporters to introduce an industrial distribution curriculum at community colleges and technical schools in the United States and Canada.

"One of our greatest challenges in industrial distribution is finding affordable personnel who have multiple skills—customer service, proactive sales skills plus technical aptitude," said John Masek, vice president of human resources at Bearing Service, Inc. in Livonia, Mich.

Ken Miko, vice president of BDI, Inc., in Cleveland concurs, "We are very lean on employees within our ranks that are ready to move into our internal pipeline. The problem has been finding educated, affordable, entry-level employees to help keep that channel filled."

ICP is a program that introduces an industrial distribution curriculum at community colleges and technical schools with a core that focuses on distributor business operations, while electives deliver product-specific education for various segments, according to PTDA. Subjects covered include: business writing and communications; business math; introduction to business; principles of selling; principles of marketing; customer service; industrial safety and health; fluid power systems; and shop tools and techniques.

At the end of 2005, eight ICP sites will be up and running and educating students on the how's, when's, where's and why's of industrial distribution. The six U.S. schools and two Canadian schools offer a core of programming to build associates' degrees for students just enrolling or employees looking to further their own education.

According to PTDA, this year also is the first to initiate a new course into the curriculum at three of the schools: an introduction to industrial distribution.

Typically, each curriculum focuses on logistics and business management, but some of the classes are not a complete enough primer when shifting into the realm of industrial distribution. Because of that, PTDA worked with the Cleveland; Omaha, Neb.; and Rosemount, Minn., colleges to bring in this class.

"These programs are an excellent complement to the training in companies, as well as a great place for recruiting and preparing future employees," said Mary Sue Lyon, executive vice president of PTDA and the PTDA Foundation. "These colleges are affordable for employers and students. Two hundred dollars can take care of fees, books and tuition, and that speaks loudly to both."

When PTDA goes into a new city to set up its program, the association invites industrial distributors and potential employers in the area to visit the college and form a committee, where they select courses at the school to target the training and curriculum for students wishing to enter the industry.

The association invites all industrial distributors and manufacturers, not just those from the power transmission discipline, to take part. The colleges are teaching courses broad enough to cover all aspects of industrial distribution, according to PTDA. And to make the most of the program, PTDA opened it to all industries, as a way to build the program and make its graduates stronger.

"Working with people from other distribution industries and meeting the students at the community college has been exciting," said Miko, who serves on the advisory board of the program in Cleveland. "The program will provide next-generation employees who have fresh ideas—the type of people that our industry needs. We hope the candidates will want to make a career in industrial distribution and progress into management positions."

PTDA is moving into the second phase of its Pathway initiative—the phase where the association, as a leader, steps back and allows other associations and supporters to spearhead programs in their own areas.

"We've developed our own detailed toolkit to start a program at any local school, and are hoping other leaders will step up to help," said Lyon. "In the toolkit, we've taken all the lessons we've learned and detailed what's worked for us. It'll have a list of all the considerations that should be taken before embarking on the program, sample letters to reach out to the school and surrounding businesses and potential supporters, and curriculum examples. It's all about how our work can benefit others."

PTDA has learned its own lessons so well that it now takes just 18 months to open a site that previously would have taken three years. The association also is able to support a full-time staff on the Foundation, with Susan Hacker as its program director.

The ICP program is resonating with the association, its members and the schools, as Miko and Masek mentioned.

"The more distributors and associations we can get behind us—to be financially committed as well as to commit their time—the more successful this effort can be," said Masek. "With more support, the Pathway will have a bigger impact on the distribution industry as a whole."