Orion Energy gets funds to upgrade skills

By Richard Ryman, Green Bay Press Gazette

Four Northeastern Wisconsin businesses received money from the state Thursday to upgrade the skills of their employees.

The state Department of Workforce Development, through the governor's Emerging Industries Skills Partnership, allocated $89,179 for worker training for Coating Excellence International of Wrightstown, Georgia-Pacific Corp. of Green Bay, DCI Cheese of Suamico and Orion Energy Systems of Manitowoc.

Along with $50,500 in resources from the Department of Workforce Development, the money will train 251 workers.

"This grant is going to help these important employers get to their workers the kind of advanced manufacturing skills they need," said Roberta Gassman, Department of Workforce Development secretary, who made the announcement Thursday at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay.

Lakeshore Technical College will work with 185 Orion employees, and NWTC will work with the three remaining companies and their combined 66 employees.

Michael Potts, executive vice president of Orion Energy Systems, said his company wants to improve computer skills for workers and management skills for supervisors.

"We are going to be able to produce the manufacturing jobs of the future, and this is a good start," he said.

Orion, based in Plymouth, established a manufacturing plant in half of the former Mirro Manufacturing factory in Manitowoc. The plant manufactures energy-efficient light fixtures, lighting controls and its new Apollo Light Pipe, which collects and focuses daylight with highly reflective geometrically arranged materials and consumes no electricity.

Jim Golembeski, executive director of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board, which will administer the grants, said Wisconsin is in competition with states such as Pennsylvania and North Carolina, which spend large amounts of money on worker training.

"We have to pay attention to job creation, but there's another side of that coin: skill development," Golembeski said. "I don't know of a better investment that pays off more quickly."

Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, said that unlike other states, Wisconsin has not abandoned manufacturing.

"Times are tough, but this is a wise investment," he said.

Wisconsin is the second-largest state in the percent of its workers in manufacturing. Indiana is first.

Mark Weber, dean of trades and technology for NWTC, said the 18-county NEW North economic development region added a net 1,300 manufacturing jobs in 2007.

The Emerging Industries Skills Partnership is part of Gov. Jim Doyle's "Grow Wisconsin-The Next Steps" strategy for economic and work force development.

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