Latest / The Diversity Career Podcast with Fexingo: Inclusion, Equity, and Underrepresented Professionals / How a Manufacturing Company Made Blue-Collar Apprenticeships Into a Career Ladder
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, we talk a lot about career ladders for knowledge workers — tech, consulting, finance. But what about the roughly 13 million Americans working in production and skilled trades? Luna: It's a blind spot for sure. Most apprenticeship programs in manufacturing are basically just entry-level training with no clear path up. Lucas: Right. But one company in the Midwest — Midwest Metalworks — just published data showing they turned that around. They run a facility in Dayton, Ohio, about 400 employees. And they redesigned their apprenticeship program from scratch. Luna: What was the old design like? Lucas: Pretty typical. You'd get hired as a general laborer, maybe get assigned to a mentor if you were lucky, and after a year you'd get a certificate that said 'apprenticeship completed.' But it didn't mean much. No guarantee of a higher grade or pay bump. Luna: That sounds like a dead end. Especially for someone who might have a family to support. Lucas: Exactly. So in early 2024, the VP of operations — a woman named Carla Mendez — completely restructured it. She partnered with Sinclair Community College to create a three-tier system: apprentice, journeyperson, and senior technician. Each tier has defined competencies and a pay increase. Luna: And the key metric she focused on? Lucas: She wanted to see what percentage of apprentices would reach senior technician within three years. Before the redesign, it was 15 percent. After two years of the new program, it's at 62 percent. Luna: That's a massive jump. How did she get buy-in from the union and management? Lucas: She started with the union. They were worried the program would just be used to justify paying people less for longer. So she made the competencies transparent — a third-party assessment, not a supervisor's opinion. And she baked in a portable credential: every tier is recognized by the National Institute for Metalworking Skills. Luna: So if someone leaves Midwest Metalworks, that credential goes with them. Lucas: Exactly. That actually increased retention. People felt the training had value outside the company, so they were more invested. Turnover among apprentices dropped 40 percent year-over-year. Luna: I want to talk about the diversity angle. How did they recruit beyond the typical pipeline? Lucas: They worked with a local nonprofit called Women in Trades Dayton. They also adjusted the schedule — apprentices can choose a 4-day, 10-hour shift instead of the traditional 5-day. That made a big difference for single parents. Luna: And did the demographics shift? Lucas: In the first cohort, 30 percent were women, and 22 percent were people of color. That's well above the national average for manufacturing apprenticeships, which is around 8 percent women and 15 percent people of color. Luna: So the program design itself was more inclusive. Lucas: That's the piece I think is underappreciated. It wasn't a diversity initiative on top of the program. The program was redesigned to work for people who don't fit the traditional mold — and that made it better for everyone. Luna: I read a report from the Aspen Institute that said only 12 percent of manufacturing apprenticeships have a defined career ladder beyond entry-level. So Midwest Metalworks is really an outlier. Lucas: It's a proof point. And the cost for them? They invested about $150,000 in the first year — mostly for community college tuition and release time for mentors. Their payback, by their own estimate, came in 18 months through reduced turnover and faster time to competency. Luna: That's a strong business case. I'm curious — how do they measure 'competency'? Is it time-based or skill-based? Lucas: Skill-based. Each tier has a checklist of about 20 specific tasks. For apprentice to journeyperson, you need to demonstrate proficiency in CNC setup, blueprint reading, and quality inspection. You're assessed by a certified trainer, not your line supervisor. Luna: That removes a lot of bias from promotions. Lucas: That's the theory. And the data backs it up. Women in the program advanced at the same rate as men, within a margin of error. That's rare in manufacturing. Luna: If this model were replicated across the industry, what would it take? Lucas: A few things. First, a willing community college partner. Second, management willing to spend on training without an immediate ROI. And third, a union or worker group that trusts the process enough to sign off. Carla Mendez spent six months just building that trust. Luna: So it's not a plug and play template. Lucas: No, but the principles are transferable: transparent standards, portable credentials, and flexible scheduling. Those three changes alone could reshape a lot of programs. Luna: We should also note that this isn't just a feel-good story. Midwest Metalworks saw a 25 percent reduction in time to promotion for skilled trades overall. That's a hard metric. Lucas: I'll give you one more number: before the redesign, the average apprentice took 4.2 years to reach journeyperson level. Now it's 2.3 years. That's almost two extra years of higher wages over a career. Luna: If today's conversation was useful for you — maybe you're in HR, or you're a worker thinking about your own path — the way we keep these episodes ad-free is listener support. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, that really helps us keep digging into stories like this. And if you have a program you think we should cover, drop us a line. Luna: So the big takeaway for me is that career ladders for blue-collar workers are not just possible — they're measurable. And the best ones are designed with the worker, not the org chart, in mind. Lucas: That's the thread. When you treat apprenticeship as an investment rather than a checkbox, you get better retention, faster advancement, and a more diverse workforce. That's the story from Dayton.