New AAS in Logistics Engineering Technology Fills Talent Gap in Emerging TDL Occupations

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If you ask most companies in shipping or logistics if it is possible to hire someone with an associate degree who knows logistics, engineering, and information technology, they will tell you that such graduates do not exist, and they would be right. But, graduates with this unique set of skills will be hitting the workforce in just two years thanks to a new AAS program coming out of Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio where the first class of students have enrolled in the degree program and begun their instruction this fall.

“I was excited to see this degree was being created. It fills a gap that has been out there for some time,” said Jeremy Banta, Lead Faculty for the Supply Chain Management program at Columbus State.

The new AAS degree in Logistics Engineering Technology (LET) was formed after collecting input from area employers who helped the college identify the skills and knowledge requirements for this evolving occupation. The degree brings together core competencies in accounting and finance, communication, information technology (IT), leadership, and logistics. It also brings in technical knowledge from industrial engineering technology and electro-mechanical engineering technology.

“What we’ve recognized is it’s difficult to find the right people with the right skill sets,” said Brandon Andrews, Senior Corporate Learning & Development Manager at Intelligrated, which is part of Honeywell. “We’re looking for a certain level of aptitude or proficiency before we bring them on.”

Andrews points out that the increasingly automated logistics field relies on sophisticated systems representing investments in the tens of millions of dollars. His company does not hire inexperienced people to run or maintain such systems. They are looking for well-trained people who have chosen the occupation and who are prepared with the training they need to get up to speed quickly.

“The Logistics Engineering Technology program at Columbus State encompasses the more technical aspects together with the operations piece and how the systems all interact with the facility, as a whole,” said Andrews.

The goal of the AAS program is to have students graduate with an understanding of the fundamentals of IT and computer science, principals of engineering, and fundamentals of logistics so they can talk to all these groups.

“The main rationale for the degree is to combine logistics with engineering technologies,” said Tara Sheffer, Grant Coordinator at Columbus State. “We know logistics is changing, we know distribution is changing, we know there is a skills gap.”

The new degree program was developed with a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program, which specifically aims to help community colleges develop academic programs for the education of technicians for high-technology fields important to the nation’s economy.

“Columbus State recognized early on that most students in the Supply Chain Management degree program were returning adults,” said Banta. To accommodate these students, 50 to 75 percent of the courses for the LET degree can be completed online.

Industry partnerships were key to the development of this degree program. They will also be key to future evolution of this program, which is slated to include a work study component and internship requirement.

Columbus State is also working to develop a third phase to this program, referred to as a “two plus two plus two” pathway. In this model, students embark on a career pathway beginning the last two years of high school. Then, they complete a two-year degree program at a community college followed by two years at a university to earn a bachelor’s degree.

As they move forward, the college will continuously work to identify and predict emerging technologies and trends affecting logistics occupations. Their goal is to continuously update the curriculum to meet evolving needs within the workforce.

“I always joke that an English professor does not necessarily have to be out in industry to see what’s new going on in their area. But, we do,” said Banta. “At least once a week we’re taking a tour, talking to an industry leader, or attending a conference so we can hear about what is new out there and what gaps need to be filled. For instance, a lot of employers right now are saying soft skills are a problem. Employees know how to do regression analysis, but they don’t know how to write an email.”

For more information about the degree program, visit the Columbus State website. Information about the curriculum and how it was developed may be found on the Columbus State website page for the grant project. To learn more about collaborating with Columbus State, contact Tara Sheffer at tsheffer@cscc.edu.

Unprecedented Partnership of 12 Workforce Development Boards Formed to Revitalize Midwest Economy

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The Midwest is taking the lead in a unique partnership of a dozen workforce development boards working in tandem to drive economic growth in the region.

In July, workforce leaders from 12 Midwest cities convened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to sign an agreement creating the Midwest Urban Strategies Consortium, the first partnership of its kind in the country.

Employ Milwaukee is the administrative lead of the consortium, working with workforce development boards in Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Gary, Indiana; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; Minneapolis, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; and Wichita, Kansas. The U.S. Department of Labor is also an active member, providing technical assistance and guidance on national and regional workforce priorities.

The signing of the consortium agreement formalizes collaboration that has been taking place since 2015. Through the agreement, consortium members share resources and funding and leverage each other’s strengths. Midwest Urban Strategies was formed to: create a community of practice among the members who share a lot of the same challenges related to urban settings; provide the collective impact needed to revitalize the Midwest economy; and maximize federal, state, and local funds and effort.

Workforce leaders from 12 Midwest cities convened in Milwaukee to sign an agreement creating the Midwest Urban Strategies Consortium.

Tracey Carey, Director of Fund Development and Strategic Initiatives at Employ Milwaukee, looks forward to continuing to build on local strategies for regional impact. Moving forward Midwest Urban Strategies’ vision includes:

  • Creating regional, sector-based advisory boards comprised of business leadership
  • Utilizing multi-city organizations, such as the United Way and Boys and Girls Clubs of America, to create a regional network of service and training providers
  • Leveraging relationships with organizations like the National Skills Coalition and Jobs for the Future to deepen impact by utilizing the expertise and technical support of these nationally recognized research and policy advocacy organizations on a broader scale
  • Maximizing on the diversity and opportunity that comes from the scope and size of these urban epicenters, to secure resources, share information, implement best and tried practice to further fulfill its mission as change agents

The urban focus of the member workforce development boards contributes to the partnership’s synergy.

“Even though we’re in different cities and we’re organized in different ways, we all face the same kinds of issues. So, it gives us the space to learn together from other experiences,” said Carey. Last summer, when the city of Milwaukee experienced an outbreak of violence in one of its neighborhoods, the city reached out to Detroit and St. Louis to hear about how they worked to address similar issues in their communities and then adopted some of those practices.

The consortium’s work will be organized around a demand-driven model with focus on the following sectors:

  • Healthcare
  • Manufacturing
  • Construction
  • Financial Services
  • Hospitality

The goal of this model is to build regional talent pools and to meet the workforce needs of whole industries.

“We’re working to create parity in training; allowing people who want to move from Milwaukee to St. Louis, for example, to be able to secure credentials that are portable and lend themselves to employment throughout the Midwest region. And, we are developing a regional employer network that helps us do a better job of meeting employer needs,” said Carey.

The Department of Labor has funded three of the consortium’s initiatives. Additionally, the group is leveraging other public, private and philanthropic funding. JPMorgan Chase is providing resources to shore up capacity, aid in intra-city communication and coordination, and bring training and technical assistance to enhance sector-based partnerships with employers.

For more information on Midwest Urban Strategies, contact Tracey Carey by email at tracey.carey@midwesturbanstrategies.com.

Multiple D&I Strategies Work in Sync to Create Real Change

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She won’t hesitate to admit that a big part of what makes the diversity and inclusion initiatives successful for her company is the support they get from high-level leadership. But, it’s a multi-pronged approach, including both top-down as well as bottom-up strategies, that have defined Angela Russell’s implementation of a D&I program over the last two and a half years.

In the third installment of the D&I Virtual Roundtable Summer Series, “Tapping into the Power of Difference,” Russell, who is Director of Diversity & Inclusion at CUNA Mutual Group in Madison, Wisconsin, shared the best practices she uses and lessons she has learned from her experiences.

Setting the stage, Russell opened with a review of key concepts in D&I, such as the difference between equality and equity and what it means to have an inclusive workplace.

“I can give you an example that was eye opening to me,” said Russell.  “We have interns every year. Last year, we had an intern in a motorized wheelchair. We had a push button to open doors to get into the building. But, what we didn’t know was that we didn’t have one to get from the lobby to our offices.” It turned out that the setup was compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). “Doing what is ADA compliant isn’t always the same as doing what is equitable. We didn’t know it had a differential impact on someone because we didn’t have that same experience.”

Russell pointed out that being inclusive is not about doing things for people who are less fortunate or disenfranchised. Rather, it is about acting collaboratively. To do this, it is important to get input from people before making decisions that may impact them. “When making policy decisions, ask the questions: Who’s benefiting from this decision? Who’s burdened? If you don’t know who’s burdened, go out and ask people who are not like you,” said Russell.

Diversity will not last if the corporate culture is not inclusive, according to Russell. CUNA Mutual Group utilizes a dozen Employee Resource Groups, or ERGs, to support employees with a variety of backgrounds, life circumstances or interests.

“I would ask you to think about some of the unwritten rules that you ask people to assimilate to in order to succeed at your organization,” said Russell. “Do you ask people to give up part of their identity to ‘be like us?’” This is important to maintaining the value brought by a diverse workplace. “When we build diversity, we want real innovation, we want those new thoughts and ideas.”

Not only are ERGs a best practice in the D&I space, they can also be strategic partners for meeting business goals. Identifying that there was a growing opportunity among African American consumers, the CUNA Mutual Group team responsible for products in this market space reached out to the African American ERG for help thinking through their strategies.

Three years ago, when the current CEO took his position, one of the first things he did was roll inclusion into the corporate vision. The company has D&I council comprised of leadership at the Vice President level and above. The council helps lead cultural change from the top down. There is also a D&I Action & Change Team, a grass roots team that works to lead change from bottom up. “I call that the big squeeze of culture change for D&I,” said Russell.

In her role, Russell has also worked on helping the company attract and hire a diverse workforce. One of the first projects she did when starting at CUNA Mutual Group was analyze the recruitment process. The company had a five-page algorithm of the entire recruitment process. Her team went through the algorithm looking at each decision point, evaluating it for any potential effects from bias. Bias can be institutional, individual or systemic. At each node, the team asked, “What does bias look like, here? What are strategies to mitigate against those biases?” These strategies to mitigate bias were formulated and put into an 11-page document. Then, they were boiled down to a one-page document that was provided to hiring managers as a tool to help them attract and interview a broader, more diverse pool of recruits.

Another important part of attracting a more diverse talent pool comes from expanding personal interactions. To improve access, CUNA Mutual Group leaders are encouraged to participate with a variety of community organizations with which they partner.

“We know that, in general, getting a job is all about who you know. If you only know people who are just like you, those are the people who are going to have the awareness that a job is open at your organization,” said Russell. “We encourage our executives and leaders of our company to go out in our community to meet people and connect with people who are different from them.”

In closing, Russell shared some common themes and best practices that she has encountered in her experience:

  • Success in the D&I space requires a long-term commitment
  • Employee Resource Groups (also called Affinity Groups or Business Resource Networks) help build an inclusive workplace
  • Training is needed to build awareness and skills for management as well as staff
  • Before implementing policies, it’s important to ask, “Who benefits from this and who is burdened?”
  • Collect both quantitative and qualitative data to measure progress
  • Collaborate and align with other efforts
  • Recognize early wins to maintain energy over the long haul

The presentation slides and a recording of this event is available on the MTWC website. Additionally, a list of resources valuable for D&I professionals has been compiled and posted.