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Business and colleges joining forces By CAROL PHILLIPS Special to the Beaver A desperate need exists for skills in running a manufacturing competitively by world standards. Colleges in the ravaged â€" Golden Horseshoe area are searching for ways to expand their customer base. Put them together and you have a new e d u c a t i 0 n a 1 partnership between the central west branch of the So the two sides met in early 1992 and conducted a approached local CMA members two years ago about taking some alreadyâ€" established classes. P‘a@arttners hi‘p coordinator, Bob Beyette, described the first steps, "The colleges said, ‘We offer this and this‘ and the CMA replied, ‘That‘s not good â€" enough‘." When the colleges asked exactly what the 200â€"member CMA did want, they found that they didn‘t know. Manufacturing As s o ciatio n (Oakville to Niagara Falls) and three community colleges: Sheridan, Niagara, and Mohawk. Manufacturing L eadership Certificate Program began at all three colleges this fall, geared toward those fortunate enough to still : be â€"titled "supervisor" _ or optimistic enough to call â€"themselves The â€" brochure hails the 180â€"hour, fiveâ€"course program as being "specially designed to meet the immediate needs of the manufacturing sector." â€" It _ also promises that participants "will develop the ability to set and achieve goals for improved productivity, quality, expense control, and onâ€"time _ product delivery..." The course wheels started turning when college supervisors". The goal is to train these people to run their d e p a rtments efficiently and productively in an increasingly competitive environment. survey which resulted in an extensive list of what local companies were looking for in management. Such skills as problem solving, negotiating, objective setting, and time management, were some of the most _ frequently mentioned. a result, the five courses offered are: Supervisory â€" and M a n a g e m e n t Techaigques, Coaching and Developing People, M a i n t a i n in g Effective Teams, Literacy/Application s, and Continuous Improvement Processes. "It is too little, too late right now," says Beyette of offering this program in a region which was hit first, and continues to suffer, from the recession. "This should have been done three or four years ago; it would TOWNKHOMES BY THE PARK se A28E. $149,900 = (NO CONDO FEES EVER!) 13167 have put us in the forefront," he suggests. "But if we don‘t do it now, we‘ll fall _even further behind." Cliff Coburn, director of Training and Development at Sheridan College, sees a new willingness _ for employers to invest in their workers‘ training. "For a long time, we have seen that _ employers tended to cut back on training," he says. "In the ©90s, in the face of pretty rough times, employers are training more than previously. They see that human resources are as critical as capital resources in dealing with the competition." But along the same lines, employers are not eager to spend money for skills not needed. Hence, the course outlines are overseen by a steering committee which includes the college coordinators and CMA chapter chairman, â€" Mike Parker, viceâ€" president at Procor Ltd. in Oakville. An "action task force" comprised of CMA members also reviews the material.