Preview: Wanted: Workers

Thomas Mundy has several reasons for participating in a U.S. Department of Labor sponsored apprenticeship program, but the main one is the lack of trained machinists in the local labor pool to work at his company, Superior Thread Rolling Co. in Arleta. Mundy said that his company’s tool room attendant wants to become a machinist and the California Advanced Manufacturing Apprenticeship Collaborative, or CAMAC program, will help in giving some clarity on that decision. Some of the skills his employee would learn include blueprint reading, geometric dimensioning, tolerance control and machine operation. “They get much more well-rounded if they go through this type of apprenticeship program,” Mundy said. “They do not get pigeonholed.” Superior Thread Rolling is among eight manufacturers in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Simi valleys taking part in the program, which combines classroom training with paid, on-the-job experience. The collaborative is made up of the Labor Department, Goodwill Southern California, community colleges and ToolingU, a nonprofit providing online industrial manufacturing training and development. Read the full story in the March 20 issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.