Latest / The 405 Payroll / OKC FAME and the Earn-While-You-Learn Manufacturing Path

Transcript

OKC FAME and the Earn-While-You-Learn Manufacturing Path · The 405 Payroll

• 0:13
  So, get this.
• 0:15
  The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber tracked over one hundred and ten company
• 0:19
  expansions recently that are set to bring in, um, more than three thousand four
• 0:24
  hundred new jobs.
• 0:26
  And these aren't low wage shifts either.
• 0:28
  We are talking an average annual salary of around sixty thousand seven hundred
• 0:33
  dollars.
• 0:35
  Sixty thousand seven hundred?
• 0:37
  Wow.
• 0:38
  That is, uh, that is real money.
• 0:40
  But wait, if companies are expanding like that, where are they actually finding the
• 0:45
  people to do the work?
• 0:46
  Because I keep hearing about a massive talent shortage in tech and skilled trades.
• 0:51
  You hit the exact bottleneck.
• 0:54
  The jobs are there, but finding people with the specific technical skills to run and
• 0:59
  maintain modern facilities is, uh, it's really tough.
• 1:03
  And that is where this program called OKC FAME comes in.
• 1:07
  OKC FAME?
• 1:09
  Okay, what does the FAME part stand for?
• 1:12
  It stands for the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education.
• 1:16
  It is a partnership between local employers, the Chamber, and Oklahoma State
• 1:21
  University Oklahoma City, or OSU OKC.
• 1:25
  Basically, it offers a two year degree in engineering technology,
• 1:29
  but paired directly with paid on the job experience.
• 1:34
  Wait, so you're in class, but you're also working in an actual manufacturing plant
• 1:39
  at the exact same time?
• 1:41
  Exactly.
• 1:43
  You split your week.
• 1:44
  You go to class at OSU OKC for two days, and then you spend three days working on
• 1:49
  the shop floor with a sponsoring employer.
• 1:52
  And local companies like Climate Control Group, IDEX, and AAE are already sponsoring
• 1:58
  students in the program.
• 2:01
  Man, when I was in my early twenties, I, I, I worked hourly retail,
• 2:06
  right?
• 2:06
  And the thought of going back to school was terrifying because,
• 2:10
  well, how do you pay rent if you drop hours to sit in a lecture hall?
• 2:15
  But here, you are literally earning wages while you get the degree.
• 2:20
  Right!
• 2:21
  The wages you earn on your shift can basically wipe out tuition costs entirely.
• 2:27
  So you graduate with a two year degree, zero student debt, and two full years of
• 2:32
  real world work experience on your resume.
• 2:35
  That is, er, that is huge.
• 2:39
  Because when most people picture manufacturing, they picture,
• 2:42
  I don't know, dirty assembly lines from fifty years ago.
• 2:46
  But this is totally different, isn't it?
• 2:49
  It really is.
• 2:51
  Modern manufacturing is high tech.
• 2:54
  In the OKC FAME program, on top of normal engineering coursework,
• 2:58
  students learn specialized practices directly from the Toyota Production System.
• 3:04
  We are talking safety, quality control, predictive maintenance,
• 3:08
  and complex problem solving on automated machinery.
• 3:12
  So it is less about turning a wrench by hand all day and more about keeping millions
• 3:18
  of dollars of automated equipment running smoothly.
• 3:21
  Exactly.
• 3:22
  It is high precision engineering technology.
• 3:26
  Okay, so walk me through how this actually feels day to day for someone who gets
• 3:30
  into the program.
• 3:31
  Like, what does that schedule look like?
• 3:34
  Sure.
• 3:35
  So, take the current cohort.
• 3:37
  They alternate.
• 3:38
  Two full days a week are spent in classrooms and labs at OSU OKC,
• 3:43
  working through technical theory and hands on simulations.
• 3:47
  Then the other three days, you clock in as an Advanced Manufacturing Technician
• 3:51
  candidate at a local company like IDEX or Climate Control Group.
• 3:56
  And you are working alongside experienced technicians, getting mentored while
• 4:01
  pulling a paycheck.
• 4:02
  Exactly.
• 4:04
  Dr.
• 4:05
  Oscar Rodriguez, who leads the Engineering Technologies department at OSU OKC,
• 4:10
  pointed out that these students learn how a real company operates from day one.
• 4:16
  They aren't just sitting in a lecture hoping it applies later.
• 4:20
  They see the exact problem on Tuesday and solve it at work on Wednesday.
• 4:25
  Okay, but how hard is it for a regular person to actually get connected with this?
• 4:31
  Like if someone is listening right now and thinking, hey, I want to jump from my
• 4:35
  current hourly job into a real career track, what is step one?
• 4:41
  It is surprisingly direct.
• 4:43
  You can reach out directly to the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.
• 4:47
  Lee Copeland is the Director of Talent Programs there, and his phone line is four
• 4:51
  zero five, two nine seven, eight eight zero three.
• 4:56
  Or you can reach out directly to the engineering department at OSU OKC and ask about
• 5:01
  the OKC FAME cohort.
• 5:04
  Four zero five, two nine seven, eight eight zero three.
• 5:08
  Got it.
• 5:09
  You know, I think about people who feel stuck in a dead end job.
• 5:13
  The hardest part of making a jump is usually the financial risk.
• 5:17
  You can't just quit working to go to school full time when you have monthly bills,
• 5:21
  rent, groceries, life.
• 5:24
  Right.
• 5:25
  That earn while you learn structure completely removes that wall.
• 5:30
  You don't have to choose between a paycheck today and a career tomorrow.
• 5:34
  Yeah.
• 5:35
  And even if someone isn't ready for a full degree program right this second,
• 5:40
  there are dozens of local hiring events and career fairs listed every single week
• 5:45
  through the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission.
• 5:48
  Like, the doors are open if you know where to look.
• 5:52
  Absolutely.
• 5:53
  Whether it is stepping into a FAME cohort at OSU OKC or hitting an OESC job fair,
• 6:00
  the path from an hourly shift to a sustainable, sixty thousand dollar career track
• 6:06
  in OKC is clearer than it has ever been.
• 6:10
  Well, that is a pretty good reason to make a phone call today.
• 6:14
  Good stuff, Claire.
• 6:15
  Talk to you next time, Miles.