Manufacturing our future: The work force is our most important product
By Bill Settlemyer
President and CEO, Setcom Media Inc.
In mid-June I attended the Business Journal’s quarterly Power Breakfast event, featuring a panel of experts discussing the region’s emerging automotive cluster.
I found the discussion highly stimulating. The speakers’ comments affirmed the Charleston region’s strengths but reminded us the bar is continually being raised by global competition.
Our panel included Tim Solso, chairman and CEO of Cummins Inc.; Danny Hyman, vice president of manufacturing for Robert Bosch Corp.’s Charleston facility; Bunny Richardson, assistant manager for media relations at BMW Manufacturing Co., based in the Upstate; and Bob Geolas, director of Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research.
Customer satisfaction
Both Tim Solso and Danny Hyman were quick to emphasize that their companies’ presence in the Charleston region has continued largely due to the quality and “can-do” attitude of our workforce. They also praised the value of Trident Technical College as a training ground and source of workers for their facilities.
As Hyman put it, “We’re here now for the same reasons we were here 30 years ago.” At the same time, he and Solso stressed the challenges of a global economy where low-wage countries are able to produce goods of the same quality as high-wage countries. To stay even, we have to keep squeezing costs out of our supply chains and increasing productivity across the board.
Richardson, representing BMW’s highly successful facility in the Upstate, stressed the critical importance of the Port of Charleston to BMW’s operations, and also emphasized the importance of the “business-friendly” attitude found here in the Lowcountry and throughout the state.
She noted that “business-friendly” does not mean cutting corners; rather, it means state and local officials in South Carolina often go the extra mile to guide companies through the regulatory red tape that can be a barrier to getting business done quickly and efficiently.
Public education, public education, public education
We’ve heard it before, and we heard it again from the panelists: Public education is the key to keeping the manufacturing we have now and growing industry clusters around manufacturing in the future. Private schools are not going to supply the workers needed for the increasingly sophisticated factory floor of the 21st century. If our public schools aren’t up to the task, we lose.
In sum, the message from the panelists was that no matter how much the business community has focused on public education in the past, it’s not enough. In the tri-county region, we are fortunate to have the Charleston Education Foundation to serve as an institutional resource supporting education improvement. Individual volunteer leaders like Anita Zucker as well as the staff at the foundation have accomplished much through their efforts, as have many others.
Even so, it’s clear we haven’t truly “broken the code” on how to get the results we need out of our public schools, at least not all of them. I continue to hear great things about many of our schools, particularly those serving upscale neighborhoods such as those in Mount Pleasant or Summerville. I think it’s a fair guess that the success of those schools is the results of strong efforts by schools districts, teachers and administrators combined with the support of dedicated parents who take ownership of the schools their children attend.
It’s also a fair guess that the root causes of low performance and high dropout rates in other schools in the region begins with children being raised in family and community settings that hinder, rather than support, success in school and in life. More often than not, there is a direct correlation with poverty, though the story is much more complicated than that.
A house divided?
In the meantime, public school governance continues to be a source of friction and conflict. In Charleston County, there’s been much talk about Arthur Ravenel Jr.’s announcement that he plans to run for the school board. There is speculation that he will join four other board members to form a majority that will seek the removal of school board superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson. To what end, I’m not sure, other than to roll back the clock to what I’d call “the bad old days” when the school board was contentious, combative and allowed the morale and the physical infrastructure of the district to crumble.
It’s hard to keep track of the details of decision-making by the current Charleston County school board, but I’ve been told that 5-4 votes are common on major decisions. Whatever the issue, that’s not a good sign. A school board should be unified and have a clear plan for success.
Of equal importance, every single board member should have student achievement as his or her top personal priority. If we as a community are electing people who have other agendas, shame on us; we’ll get what we deserve and pay a heavy price. And if all the board members are truly focused on student achievement, they should do the work necessary to reach a consensus on the direction of the district in terms of strategy and policy.
For a change, try something different
The untouched question about public education is the one that might make the most difference: If the roots of failure are found in the culture of the homes and neighborhoods where poor students live, why aren’t we focusing on changing that culture with programs that reach parents, caregivers and children where they live? I guess the easy answer is that it’s too hard, too expensive and, perhaps, too controversial.
Easy answer, same result. Do we really care whether all the children in our tri-county community have a fair shot at success in life? Time will tell.
|
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version