Page 58: of Marine News Magazine (March 2013)

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT According to Vigor itself, infrastructure and mere ca- pacity increases will not be enough. To that end, Vigor is engaged in a wide range of workforce development efforts, from traditional on the job training and union apprentice- ships, to partnering with local educational institutions to provide industrial workforce education at the K-12 and community college levels. Already, workers are moving up in the ranks from these training efforts, and Vigor is see- ing high demand and waitlists for industrial training pro- grams, as well as gains in recruiting a younger, more stable workforce. IdentiÞ ed as a particularly pressing issue for Vigor Ð its average age of skilled industrial workers is about 52 (albeit slightly younger than the industry average of 54) Ð there are not currently enough young people to replace all of the older workers expected to reach retirement age in the near term.SpeciÞ c efforts include:  The Pathways to Manufacturing Program: targets students in grades 9-12 about career opportunities in skilled industrial jobs,  A partnership with Portland Community College,  Apprenticeships, and  On the job training. Sue Haley, Vice President of Human Resources at Vigor explained, ÒWorkforce development is a key part of our business strategy and company philosophy. With many of our highly experienced craftspeople nearing retirement age, maintaining our skilled workforce is a top priority É Workforce development is a bridge that helps Vigor recruit the workers we need, and provides hard-working people with the skills they need to do these family-wage jobs.Ó THE OFFSHORE PATROL CUTTER (OPC)Where other shipyards have kept, until now, relatively low proÞ les for their considerable efforts to secure the con- tract to design and produce the highly anticipated U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC), Vigor went on the offensive late last year to showcase its decidedly dif- ferent, but well-proven hull design. Spurred by the need to replace as many as 25 medium endurance cutters, the nationÕs primary homeland security provider on the water OPC depiction at seaMarch 2013 58 MNMN March2013 Layout 50-65.indd 58MN March2013 Layout 50-65.indd 583/4/2013 3:53:45 PM3/4/2013 3:53:45 PM