Waukesha County Technical College will host its "Gearing Up for High Performance Manufacturing" conference on Monday, Oct. 20. The conference, dedicated to teaching manufacturers and educators about the Wisconsin Manufacturing Skill Standards Certification (MSSC), will feature kickoff appearances by Gov. Jim Doyle and Roberta Grassman, secretary of the state Department of Workforce Development.
The MSSC program certifies manufacturing workers best practices and basic information on safety, quality, manufacturing processes and maintenance, said Michael Shiels, WCTC’s associate dean of manufacturing technologies.
"(MSSC) is supposed to identify the right core for workers to keep pace with technical change," he said. "It makes manufacturing workers cognizant of what is going on around them and how they fit into the whole picture of a manufacturing environment.
"It increases productivity and innovation and it provides employers with a tool to determine where the works are, if there are gaps where training can be implemented to fill in those gaps."
Brenda Kujawski, a WCTC instructor who leads several of the MSSC classes, said the program’s manufacturing processes course covers topics as broad as planning and working in manufacturing operations and the supply chain to core processes like machining, injection molding and various sub-industries.
Most employers that send workers to the MSSC program choose to have them take all four modules, which takes about a year, Kujawski said. Companies that want to take a faster track will soon be able to do so.
"In January we will go through all four topics between then and the end of May at an accelerated pace for testing and assessment," Kujawski said.
The Oct. 20 event will include a "Closing the Skills Gap" panel discussion including executives and managers from InPro, Master Lock and Pioneer Products. The afternoon session will also include afternoon breakout sessions for manufacturers, instructors and college administrators.
There is no fee for the event, but registration required. For more information or to register, click here.
