By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The second Mubea apprentice class was recognized Monday night in a banquet at the Metropolitan Club.
Kentucky Labor Secretary Derrick Ramsey was the featured speaker and praised the students and the company for helping to build an advanced manufacturing workforce in the region.
Ramsey
With the completion of the three-year training program, the nine apprentices achieved journeyman status in their respective fields of study.
“I am extremely proud of all of you, but more importantly, I’m excited about what the future holds for you,” Ramsey said. “You are in the right place at the right time.”
Ramsey, whose first official act as Labor Secretary last year was to congratulate the first group of Mubea apprentices, talked about the opportunities in the advanced manufacturing industry in Kentucky and throughout the world for those who complete the program.
“We’re hopeful that you are going to stay here in the state of Kentucky,” Ramsey said. “The reason we are hopeful is that everywhere we go in the state of Kentucky, people are saying we have a shortage of skilled workers. You guys have the opportunity, not only to take care of yourself, but take care of your family and earn a pretty good living.”
Ramsey has had a storied career and brought a wide range of accomplishments and experience to his role as Labor Secretary.
In 1975, he became the first African-American Starting quarterback in the history of the University of Kentucky.
His professional accomplishments include a nine-year career as an NFL tight end and wide receiver during which he earned a Super Bowl ring. He followed that with stints as community relations director at his alma mater and as athletics director at Kentucky State University.
In 2004, he was appointed deputy secretary of commerce in the administration of Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher. He spent seven years as director of athletics at Coppin State University in Maryland before returning to the Commonwealth to serve in his current capacity.
Mubea North America CEO Doug Cain addresses the nine young men that graduated from the company’s apprenticeship program Monday evening (photos by Mark Hansel).
Ramsey said he came back to Kentucky because it is the place he truly loves.
“I’m looking out and projecting where Kentucky should be and where I am going to take Kentucky,” Ramsey said. “So when I got here, I had to figure out how could we impact the state of Kentucky? Lo and behold, it’s right here in front of you – it’s called apprenticeships.”
The Mubea apprenticeship program has been in existence in Germany, where the company is based, for 100 years. The Northern Kentucky apprenticeship is modeled after that program, which is recognized worldwide as the industry leader.
The program allows students to work and get paid while going to school and earn a certification in their chosen field without any education-related debt.
Mubea manufactures automotive components, such as springs, hose clamps and stabilizer bars. It started operating in Kentucky in 1982. The company opened a state-of-the-art tailored rolled blank advanced manufacturing facility in 2013 – the first of its kind in North America.
Christopher Cress of Elsmere, who is certified as a maintenance technician, said he bounced around at some odds-and-ends jobs after graduating from Conner High School in Boone County.
“Everywhere we go in the state of Kentucky, people are saying we have a shortage of skilled workers. You guys have the opportunity, not only to take care of yourself, but take care of your family and earn a pretty good living,” Kentucky Secretary of Labor Derrick Ramsey
When he heard about the apprenticeship program he couldn’t pass up the opportunity for an education and a guaranteed job with a company that he had heard is great to work for.
“I want to be able to, when I have kids, say, ‘this is what I did to better myself,’ and I want them to follow in my footsteps,” Cress, 23, said.” I applied myself and applied the skills I had and now I am ready to start a career. It was rough, but you get used to it and it’s something that when you wake up, you look forward to every day.”
Mubea North America CEO Doug Cain said it takes a lot of people that each play an integral role to develop a successful apprenticeship program. He welcomed the newest journeymen into the Mubea family, but reminded them of some of the people outside of the company that have also contributed to their success.
“It’s not an individual effort on your part,” Cain said.” It takes your families, it takes your friends, it takes your girlfriends or boyfriends, but you all have made a significant amount of commitment of time and energy over the last three years to be here.”
Last year Mubea also graduated nine apprentices and there are 36 students in the pipeline right now.
Drew Farris, apprenticeship/training manager for Mubea North America, said the students who complete the program have earned the opportunities that are about to come their way.
“In three-and-a-half years, not only have you worked full time, you went to school full time,” Farris said. “Most people get off work, go sit on the couch and flip the remote, but you guys are going to school at night and on weekends you’re doing homework. That’s absolutely amazing.”
Ramsey said the success of the Mubea apprentice program and others around Kentucky have inspired Gov. Matt Bevin to dream big.
“He wants Kentucky to be the manufacturing hub of America, so, that’s what me and my team are going to do, Ramsey said. “We’re going to work like the dickens on apprenticeship.”
Ramsey believes Kentucky is tailor made to cultivate apprenticeship on a grand scale. He said 60 percent of young people who graduate high school in the state attend college, but only 20 percent graduate.
Kentucky Labor Secretary Derrick Ramsey told the graduates of Mubea’s apprenticeship program that they are “in the right place at the right time.” (Click photo to enlarge)
More than 350,000 people between the ages of 18 and 55 in Kentucky do not have a high school diploma or GED. Another 220,000 people who lost their jobs during the economic downturn of 2008-2009, Ramsey said, are disillusioned or gave up and have not returned to the workplace.
“So, with fuzzy numbers there are around 600,000 people there that we believe are targeted for apprenticeship,” Ramsey said. “For the next forty or fifty years, I believe apprenticeships can impact the state of Kentucky that much.”
Mubea spends approximately $2.5 million on its apprenticeship program each year. Cain said the company sees the program as one of the best ways to replace an aging workforce and provide the skilled labor force needed to remain competitive in the industry and continue its commitment to Northern Kentucky.
Mubea has invested more than $200 million in North America since 2010, 80 percent of that in Northern Kentucky. The company employs 10,500 worldwide, including 1,400 in the region.
In addition to the apprenticeship program, Mubea offers other opportunities, such as co-operative programs, for students and others seeking a career in advanced manufacturing.
Information for those interested in Mubea North America apprenticeships, or other career opportunities is available here.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
