Source: AL
MOBILE, Alabama -- If the U.S. Navy has its way, Austal USA's 1,800-employee Mobile River shipyard will be adding 2,000 more workers, many skilled in the delicate art of aluminum welding.
So how will they find them?
0
Share 0 Comments It's a good problem to have, and state government appears ready with an answer. On Monday, Alabama Industrial Development Training will open its new $12 million Maritime Training Center basically in Austal's backyard.
"The main thing that we're trying to do is get our citizens a job," said Ed Castile, AIDT's executive director.
From the outside, the building resembles a freighter loaded with containers from different countries.
The inside is split in half, with Austal occupying one side of the building and AIDT, an arm of the 2-year college system, running the other side.
AIDT offers free welding training
through 10- or 12-week daytime classes and a 15-week night class option. The next sessions will begin Jan. 3 and are open to 30 students each. Anyone interested can apply online at www.aidt.edu/jobs.
There will also be smaller, intermittent classes to train people to operate machinery like forklifts or overhead cranes, said Tony Hopper, project coordinator and master trainer.
Austal will use the facility for both new trainees and to recertify or beef up the skills of existing employees, said Joe Rella, president and chief operating officer of Austal USA.
Both halves have the same layout. Most of the building is a large open space that resembles the assembly bay of a shipyard, including an overhead crane that can travel the length of the building.
Hopper said students would build life-size sections of a ship in the assembly bay as part of their training.
The building also has smaller workspaces on the ground floor for welding training. The second floor has classrooms, a computer lab where students can learn everything from basic skills to three-dimensional ship design programs, and meeting rooms.
AIDT students will be able to get instruction in both steel and aluminum welding, Hopper said. Aluminum, which is used at locally at shipyards including Austal and C&G Boat Works Inc., is easier to damage than steel, and so requires a greater skill level to weld, said Lee Hammett, assistant director of AIDT.
Every student who graduates from one of the AIDT classes will be certified by the National Center for Construction Education and Research. Hammett said that the certification is recognized by all kinds of industries, not just shipbuilding.
"Local shipbuilders know they're getting quality workers from here," Hammett said. "Now anyone in the world will know."
Officials are also hoping that such a visible training center will be a recruitment tool for shipbuilding companies, Hammett said.
Rella said that he can attest to AIDT's training. Austal USA has already hired 800 people this year, expanding its workforce as it builds high-speed transport ships for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.
About half of the new workers didn't have shipbuilding experience, Rella said. Austal worked with AIDT to put the prospective employees through a six-week course. If they passed a test at the end of the course, Austal would hire them, Rella said.
"There has been no real significant difference between new hires, as far as quality and defects are concerned, and more legacy employees who have been with company longer," he said.
Austal is now on the verge of another expansion. The Navy announced last week that it is trying to win approval to purchase 10 littoral combat ships each from Austal and from a Lockheed Martin-led team that will construct its vessels in Wisconsin.
If the plan is approved, Austal will have to double the size of its facility and hire about 2,000 new workers over the next two to three years, Rella said.
Rella said working with AIDT on this year's hiring push has made him confident that the company will be able to handle doubling its workforce again.
"The rate of hire in the future doesn't really exceed the rate of hire we've seen already," he said. "We're already prepared."
MOBILE, Alabama -- If the U.S. Navy has its way, Austal USA's 1,800-employee Mobile River shipyard will be adding 2,000 more workers, many skilled in the delicate art of aluminum welding.
So how will they find them?
0
Share 0 Comments It's a good problem to have, and state government appears ready with an answer. On Monday, Alabama Industrial Development Training will open its new $12 million Maritime Training Center basically in Austal's backyard.
"The main thing that we're trying to do is get our citizens a job," said Ed Castile, AIDT's executive director.
From the outside, the building resembles a freighter loaded with containers from different countries.
The inside is split in half, with Austal occupying one side of the building and AIDT, an arm of the 2-year college system, running the other side.
AIDT offers free welding training
through 10- or 12-week daytime classes and a 15-week night class option. The next sessions will begin Jan. 3 and are open to 30 students each. Anyone interested can apply online at www.aidt.edu/jobs.
There will also be smaller, intermittent classes to train people to operate machinery like forklifts or overhead cranes, said Tony Hopper, project coordinator and master trainer.
Austal will use the facility for both new trainees and to recertify or beef up the skills of existing employees, said Joe Rella, president and chief operating officer of Austal USA.
Both halves have the same layout. Most of the building is a large open space that resembles the assembly bay of a shipyard, including an overhead crane that can travel the length of the building.
Hopper said students would build life-size sections of a ship in the assembly bay as part of their training.
The building also has smaller workspaces on the ground floor for welding training. The second floor has classrooms, a computer lab where students can learn everything from basic skills to three-dimensional ship design programs, and meeting rooms.
AIDT students will be able to get instruction in both steel and aluminum welding, Hopper said. Aluminum, which is used at locally at shipyards including Austal and C&G Boat Works Inc., is easier to damage than steel, and so requires a greater skill level to weld, said Lee Hammett, assistant director of AIDT.
Every student who graduates from one of the AIDT classes will be certified by the National Center for Construction Education and Research. Hammett said that the certification is recognized by all kinds of industries, not just shipbuilding.
"Local shipbuilders know they're getting quality workers from here," Hammett said. "Now anyone in the world will know."
Officials are also hoping that such a visible training center will be a recruitment tool for shipbuilding companies, Hammett said.
Rella said that he can attest to AIDT's training. Austal USA has already hired 800 people this year, expanding its workforce as it builds high-speed transport ships for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army.
About half of the new workers didn't have shipbuilding experience, Rella said. Austal worked with AIDT to put the prospective employees through a six-week course. If they passed a test at the end of the course, Austal would hire them, Rella said.
"There has been no real significant difference between new hires, as far as quality and defects are concerned, and more legacy employees who have been with company longer," he said.
Austal is now on the verge of another expansion. The Navy announced last week that it is trying to win approval to purchase 10 littoral combat ships each from Austal and from a Lockheed Martin-led team that will construct its vessels in Wisconsin.
If the plan is approved, Austal will have to double the size of its facility and hire about 2,000 new workers over the next two to three years, Rella said.
Rella said working with AIDT on this year's hiring push has made him confident that the company will be able to handle doubling its workforce again.
"The rate of hire in the future doesn't really exceed the rate of hire we've seen already," he said. "We're already prepared."
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