Posted on 10/23/2014 4:36:17 AM PDT by thackney
As refineries and petrochemical plants struggle to find enough skilled workers to fill a surge of new jobs, Dow Chemical is considering an old solution to solve a new problem.
The multinational chemical corporation plans to launch a pilot apprenticeship program next year at eight of its plants, including manufacturing sites in Freeport, Bayport, Deer Park, Seadrift and Texas City.
The company expects to hire 60 apprentices, who will receive two to four years of training and on-the-job experience to prepare them for jobs as chemical process operators, instrumentation and equipment technicians and analyzer technicians.
The apprenticeship positions will be posted on Dow’s website within the next month and the company hopes to start hiring as early as January, Earl Shipp, Dow’s vice president of U.S. Gulf Coast Operations, said in an interview with Fuel Fix. Once apprentices complete the program, Dow will consider hiring them full-time.
While apprenticeships remained popular in Europe, they fell out of favor in the United States as parents and schools encouraged students to pursue college degrees rather than training for trade jobs, such as plumbers, electricians, pipe fitters, machinists and welders, Shipp said.
But vast new supplies of cheap natural gas unleashed by the U.S. shale boom have prompted the petrochemical industry to build and expand their plants, which use gas as fuel and raw material.
Especially on the Texas Gulf Coast, the center of much U.S. petrochemical activity, the building boom is creating a shortage of workers with the necessary technical skills to fill construction and manufacturing jobs. At its sprawling Freeport plant alone, Dow is investing billions on a massive new ethylene cracker and new propane dehydrogenation unit to capitalize on low-cost gas, as well as two new plastics plants.
If skilled manufacturing workers were in short supply before, the shale boom made the shortage even more acute, Shipp said. The petrochemical resurgence is expected to create 630,000 new manufacturing jobs in the United States by 2025, according to a recent study by energy analyst firm IHS.
“As a country, we’ve got a bit of an issue,” Shipp said. “”We have this God=given gift of abundant and affordable and accessible energy through technology, but we need the people and the workforce to be able to get at it.”
While Dow plans to partner with local community colleges to provide some training, the company opted to spearhead the apprenticeship program in-house rather than solely provide funding for local colleges and trade schools to prepare the people it wants to hire, Shipp said.
“An apprenticeship program is a commitment,” he said. “We’re not just saying we want to throw money at the problem. We’re saying we want to be a part of the solution to the problem.”
Dow’s pilot program, developed as part of a coalition among Dow, Alcoa and Siemens, aims to offer a playbook for other U.S. companies seeking to take similar initiatives.
“The three of us are working together and we do have slightly different industries, but we have the same needs and we’re committed to go figuring this out,” Shipp said.
This year I hired 5 straight out of college: I reviewed 40+ resumes, interviewed 20, hired 5 - damn good kids. Some of the others... meh... that’s why I didn’t hire them.
The ones I got are good thinkers, fast learners, decent writers, have a sense of humor and can communicate clearly.
The ones I turned away wrote sloppily, didn’t have the required engineering skills, were poor speakers, dressed abysmally, or plainly thought to much of themselves.
Just like everything else there are good ones and bad ones.
And can pass a drug test.
Well, there is that, yes...
I have gone back to technical school to learn machining, and many of my fellow students have trouble doing simple math, like working with fractions; basic algebra, forget it. It’s painful to see.
Yeah, look at Biden’s kid. And he failed for cocaine, which I believe only stays in the system for a day or two, so he’s still an active, regular user.
Most likely these aren’t real apprenticeships, but a devious plan to pay even less to new hires.
Let me just say that I have not been hanging out with Ethyl...so I know nutting about this...
That was my question...are these paid or unpaid internships?
Apprenticeship programs are an age-old solution which companies have been reluctant to try as long as the Chamber of Commies keeps the pipeline of illegals flowing.
...
I wouldn’t be surprised if these companies started whining and crying about not having enough H1b’s to fill these “apprenticeships.”
And your proof for this assertion is...
Certainly paid.
It’s not an assertion.
I doubt that. I do consulting work in plants like these. They desperately need skilled people.
Not so sure they've been reluctant to try it. From what I've seen the model has just been modified to a revolving door of Illegal labor. New arrival get's training and low pay until he knows the job and expects actual wages. The axe drops and the process starts again. Works great because there will always be a constant flow.
I doubt that. I do consulting work in plants like these. They desperately need skilled people.
...
Are they not paying enough to get skilled people?
My statement was probabilistic. It was not an assertion.
When you say these people are well paid, have their salaries kept up with inflation over the past 30 years?
With the plant growth in the area, there are not enough skilled people for these jobs.
With the plant growth in the area, there are not enough skilled people for these jobs.
...
I have no doubt they need people, but there are a lot of intelligent quick learners who need jobs, too. Please point me to some of the help wanted ads, and perhaps we can see what the problem is.
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