Mineville students help German company find production solution

ELIZABETHTOWN | When a German global conglomerate needed help solving a production problem, it sought help from a surprising source — four high school students from a trade school in Mineville. The unlikely scenario has grabbed everyone's attention, from the halls of schoolhouses to corporate boardrooms to the halls of Congress and has the potential to change education, not just at a local, but at a global level. This school-company partnership has fired the imaginations of students as well — at least one Essex County senior who had no particular post-graduation plans has now enrolled in the engineering program at Clarkson University. "It's so exciting, and it's happening right here," said Carol Calabrese, co-director of the Essex County Industrial Development Agency. The pilot program was seeded when Sylvie Nelson, director of the North Country Workforce Development Board, was in Germany and came across a partnership between students at the University of Siegen and Schluter Systems, a tile and drain company with 900 employees worldwide that has four North American locations, including one in Plattsburgh. In the global world, companies today have to deal with time zone, language, and video-collaboration issues, so the idea came up to include American students in the partnership, Nelson told Essex County supervisors at their May economic Development Committee meeting. CV-TEC in Mineville was a good fit, specifically because of its small size — large classes can be too cumbersome, Nelson said. So three students in Germany and four in Mineville were given a real-world problem to work on to see what they could come up with. Demand for a two-piece drain held together with two screws had reached 150,000 units a year and exceeded the ability of an employee to fasten the parts fast enough. So Schluter Systems wanted to know if it should hire more workers or automate, and what automation might look like. So with the help of Clinton Community College, the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing the German and American students developed a prototype, Nelson said, and Schluter Systems will use their plans as it decides its next step. "This is what Authentic STEM is about," Nelson said. "This is really about enabling industry to work with the schools in a really meaningful partnership. Basically, it allows the students to work hand in hand with industry and to solve one of their problems, and so that's very exciting. A lot of times when you're in high school, you hear that question, why do I need to learn this? Well, this gives students the opportunity to put two and two together and to put what they learn in the classroom and apply it in the real world situation." The collaboration is a running start both for the students — who get an idea of how the industrial world works when settling on a career path — and the company, which can help mold potential employees to its needs. "As far as we're concerned, this is really the future of workforce development in the long term, because the students get to know the manufacturers, and they get to know the type of jobs that are available in their own backyard," Nelson said. Suddenly, the faceless metal buildings in a local industrial park become a source of intrigue and possible employment. That's good for the company, and it's also good for offering young people opportunities in their home communities. This fall, the program looks to expand to Malone, Plattsburgh and Dutchess County, all of which have expressed interest. And from there, the possibilities are virtually limitless. "Our program was mentioned on the floor of the U.S. Senate during a testimonial of the Workforce Development Association of the United States," Nelson said. "We were also asked to present it at the National Association of Workforce Board. People want to know more about it, and how they can bring it to their area. And this pilot project is actually gaining momentum, right here in the North Country."

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Mineville students help German company find production solution

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