LOCKHEED USES MCC’S ADVANCED TRAINING
TO ACHIEVE 100% RETENTION RATE

MERIDIAN - - Business leaders agree success can be credited to solid partnerships. Take, for example, one between a local educational institution and a multinational aerospace manufacturer.

Meridian Community College and Lockheed Martin began a partnership a year ago teaching basic aircraft assembly skills at the college’s new Workforce Training Center.  The pre-employment training program, conducted by retired Lockheed Martin employees, was the first offered in the new facility.

“This program is win-win for everyone,” said Joe Mercado, plant manager for the Lockheed Martin facility located in the Northeast Industrial Park outside Meridian. “We knew last fall that we were ramping up on the C 130 program and would need mechanics. We also knew there was a limited amount of trained people in the area and it (the program) just worked out perfectly in terms of being able to get the folks.”

“And it says a lot,” he added, “that people took the time and effort to go through the training.  It already tells you something about their character - that they were interested in bettering themselves and getting a good opportunity.” 

William Green, hired by Lockheed Martin in February 2009, agrees.

“The pre-employment training program was important because while there were no promises we would be hired upon completion, it was expressed that it would be to our benefit to successfully complete the course,” said Green. 

“The program was also insightful and the class structure very well thought out.  Having an instructor that at one time served as both a mechanic and inspector was so helpful,” he added.  “We were given the view points of what a good mechanic should be and what an inspector is expecting in a finished product by Instructor Frank Darcy, who was both patient and knowledgeable.”

Green, along with 34 others that completed the training, was hired on at Lockheed Martin over the course of the last year, with a 100 percent retention rate - a statistic that Mercado says is just phenomenal.

“When we hire someone, they have to go through a 90-day evaluation.  We get an opportunity to go over their performance and see how they do and how they are catching on.  Some folks get here and this is not the environment for them. So for various reasons, during that early phase, we will have attrition and have to start over.  But we were saved a big hit through lost time and productivity going this route,” he noted. “I mean a 100 percent retention rate for those that went through the training- it’s hard to say anything more than that.”

“That’s why this partnership has worked so well,” stressed MCC Workforce Project Manager Lynne Thrailkill, who helped put together the training program.   “We (MCC) take care of the attrition and Lockheed Martin gets good trained potential employees.”

“For example,” said Thrailkill, “one hundred and twenty nine people completed the pre-employment training over the past year and 46 percent of those were successful.  An additional 20 individuals never showed up after we registered them and 20 more dropped out during the training.”

“Lockheed Martin only had to deal with the ones who finished.  There would have been absolutely no way they would have been able to pare that initial number down by just arbitrarily calling people in, interviewing them and putting them on the job,” she added.

To be eligible for the two-week, 80-hour program, participants had to achieve a Career Readiness Certificate (CRC).  They then received customized training in measurement techniques, blueprint reading, hand tools, power tools, and other skills as designated by Lockheed.  MCC’s partnership in the West Alabama – East Mississippi (WAEM) Regional Initiative supported the equipment and systems utilized in the training. 

Initially, only a “bronze” level in the CRC was required.  This fall the pre-requisite CRC score has been increased to silver.  Mercado hopes the tougher qualifications for entering the program will help increase the success rate of the participants.

And although the company is not looking to ramp up again at the level they did last year, they are looking to keep some prospective employees trained and ready.

“I will continue to work closely with Julia Stevens, Lockheed Martin’s human resource manager,” said Thrailkill, “to make sure the pool of prospective employees doesn’t get too large.”

And for those who went through the program and weren’t hired, they now have skills like blueprint reading and drill pattern layout they can use elsewhere, she noted.
 
“Everyone who completes the program receives a certificate in basic aircraft structure training from MCC,” explained Thrailkill.  “The certificate also has the number of hours spent in the program.” 

“If a business is really interested in one of the individuals who completed the training,” she added, “they can call MCC Workforce division to learn more about what skills were taught in the class.

To learn more about the Lockheed Martin pre-employment training program or how MCC’s Workforce Development division can help your company, call 601-482-7445.

Story submitted by Lisa Sollie, Leadership Facilitator at MCC through the West Alabama East Mississippi (WAEM) Regional Initiative.