Preparing for free trade: training, education, jobs - proposed North American Free Trade Agreement - includes related article

New Mexico Business Journal, April, 1993 by Ed Ivey

EL PASO -- Paso del Norte is changing and educational opportunities are already expanding with a demand for highly-trained workers to fulfill the dream of the pending free trade agreement with Mexico.

Proving that schools and universities can turn out properly trained employees may well be the most important chore ahead for the region, says Gordon Cook, border trade analyst with the University of Texas at El Paso.

It's not full steam ahead just yet, says Cook, but he sees a pick-up in programs to widen El Paso's educational base.

"We're becoming more attuned to the needs of our students to get jobs," says Cook. "We're taking the leadership role we needed to take years ago and we're becoming much more sensitive."

The University of Texas at El Paso and the Advanced Technology Center at El Paso Community College are spearheading what very likely will become a deluge of demands for training in the years ahead.

El Paso Community College, for instance, is already interfacing with existing and arriving companies to give workers the skills they need.

Uwe Agness, coordinator for the Advanced Technology Center, says his program can make a monumental difference to companies looking for qualified help.

"We do customized training," says Agness. "They have a particular need, they tell me the subject matter, and I find an instructor knowledgeable in that field. The plant supervisor and the instructor get together and hash out a curriculum."

It's that kind of an approach that is expected to pay off handsomely for El Paso-Juarez, with spinoffs that could boost activities along the New Mexico border with the giant to the south.

The effort represents more than planning among educators. Mayor Bill Tilney of El Paso, Ciudad Juarez Mayor Francisco Villarreal and Las Cruces Mayor Ruben Smith confer frequently on developments and future plans.

Each of the mayors views the trade region -- whether El Paso, Juarez or Las Cruces -- as a growing single entity that in the long run can benefit any municipality or community in the border region, even reaching other cities in Texas and New Mexico.

At the Advanced Technology Center (ATC) at El Paso Community College, courses feature high tech, modern equipment identical to the systems students would be using in the work place. Companies often foot the bill for classes as part of their employee training programs.

ATC operates much like Albuquerque's Technical-Vocational Institute to train workers under contract for new and expanding industries.

Specialized training for skilled and semi-skilled workers is a must for a lot of El Paso-Juarez industrial giants, including Packard Electric, Delco Remy, General Motors, General Electric, Westinghouse and Thomason Consumer Electronics.

Others include RCA, Chrysler, Ford, Johnson & Johnson and Baxter Health Care Corp., to name only a few.

And with the anticipated migration of more industries to the El Paso-Juarez trade region, educational institutions are bracing for what could be an avalanche of new training requirements.

Tailor-made training is what ATC in El Paso is all about, Agness says. For example, the school recently designed entry-level classes for Hardie Irrigation to train employees in blueprint reading and plastic injection.

The program recently graduated 45 students in plastics, and 90 percent are already working in the field, says Agness. By keeping tabs on developing trends in industry, ATC can place graduates in what officials claim is a sure-thing job market.

"We've started a tool-die mold-making apprenticeship program," says Agness. "Last year, we had four companies with nine apprentices, now we have 19 apprentices and more companies coming aboard.

"Journeymen make $12-$15 an hour; that's creating real jobs," he says.

Technology transfer benefiting the entire Paso Del Norte region is an intentional byproduct of the work at ATC.

"We get equipment on loan from manufacturers and distributors; we offer short seminars and courses on that equipment; and people will come and see that equipment and then buy it," he says.

Gary Collins, manufacturing engineer with Hardie Irrigation's El6 Paso plant, says his company sees to it that its 750-employee operation interacts directly with ATC. Plastic injection operators are sent through on-site classes designed by the ATC staff.

"We've had four in-house training programs so far, and we've pretty much depended on the ATC staff to get us where we want to go," says Collins.

When Collins moved to El Paso from Nevada, he found a shortage of technically current employees.

"I was having difficulty in finding individuals who had the expertise we needed," he says. "Our requirements fill such a diverse area; plastic injection, electronics assembly. I realized we had to train people."

The student employees attend at least five hours of instruction a week, on the clock and at the factory. Hardie Irrigation has 22 employees enrolled in training sessions at ATC, studying plastic injection molding to be followed by hydraulics, pneumatics and troubleshooting skills.