Dean Peckham

Siemens Mobility Tour

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Recently the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative and Sacramento Valley SME hosted a joint event – an informative session about SVMI and a tour of Siemens Mobility in Sacramento, CA. It was a great event with excellent networking, a great tour by host Siemens and SVMI President Kevin McrGrew, and an informative/brainstorming session that led to one new SVMI member S&S Machine in Roseville, CA. We also had a number of candidate shops and participants for the CNC Training program that will be occurring at Sierra College this fall that is designed, sponsored, and led by SVMI. Many great things happening for Manufacturing here in the Sacramento area! Thanks to all who participated and supported this event.


Technology Solutions to Manufacturing,
IT Management since 1997,
US Manufacturing Podcast Host and Business Owner

Local Manufacturing Jobs

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New group seeks to place workers in local manufacturing jobs

By   – Staff Writer, Sacramento Business Journal

The research and advocacy group Valley Vision has launched the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative to provide more workers for local manufacturers.

The initiative will work with local high schools, community colleges and employment groups to create interest among workers for jobs in manufacturing, said Kevin McGrew, director of quality management with Siemens’ Mobility division. Siemens’ plant in South Sacramento employs more than 1,200 people who build locomotives, rail cars and light rail trains.

His shop is constantly looking for employees, he said. “Business is good in manufacturing in Sacramento. We need employees.”

Valley Vision and local manufacturers have been working to develop the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative for two years.

“We realized we need to develop the next crop of employees,” McGrew said.

The initiative is meant to get the word out in the community that manufacturing jobs are a viable career option. Many young people don’t even consider it because they are unaware of manufacturing, McGrew said. “Millennials in many cases have never had anyone in their household who worked in manufacturing.”

The initiative is also intended to expand the local workforce, so it can replace a wave of soon-to-be retiring workers, McGrew said. Part of the outreach will include some manufacturers offering tours to high school shop teachers or their classes.

“We need to open our doors and let them see the shop floors,” McGrew said.

So far, 20 manufacturing companies in the region are dues-paying members of the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative. Along with Siemens Mobility, those include undersea vessel manufacturer Schilling Robotics in Davis and portable machine tool manufacturer Tri Tool Inc. in Rancho Cordova.

The Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative was launched under the umbrella of Valley Vision, which will coordinate its accounting, organization and marketing.

Aside from setting up tours for shop teachers and students, the initiative is putting together a list of industry experts to visit local schools and make presentations, McGrew said.

The initiative will develop curriculum in welding, programming and robotics to meet the needs of manufacturers in the Sacramento area. It also plans to establish a local manufacturing jobs board and to standardize job descriptions.

The Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative is modeled after the North State Grow Manufacturing Initiative, or GMI, which was developed in Chico and opened in 2013. In Chico, the GMI puts on events and produces directories in association with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the National Association of Manufacturers.

In October, the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative will host a career fair at California State University Sacramento.

Original Article Here >

SVMI Train the Trainer

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June 13-19, 2018

Mission of SVMI Train the Trainer

To give the regional technical educators access to a technical employer base. This access will allow the teachers to create and establish more applicable curriculum based on local industry’s needs.  These soft and hard skills are critical in establishing a workforce that can keep the Sacramento Valley economy growing.

This was the first Train the Trainer program for the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative.  SVMI was able to find 5 local volunteer teachers to participate.  These teachers were scheduled for a 3-day training program in which they were able to commit their free summer time to learn more about manufacturing.

June 13, 2018
Day 1 was to provide an in class education environment around safe practices, terminology, common equipment and usages.

June 18, 2018 & June 19, 2018
Day 2 & Day 3 were spent at a local manufacturing company that offered the specific manufacturing capabilities that the teachers were interested in.  These two days gave the teachers the opportunity to interact with many different employees and to start building those critical relationships to foster a sustainable society in manufacturing.

Many teachers and manufacturing companies were contacted and due to scheduling conflicts these 5 teachers were the only teachers able to participate in the Summer 2018 program.  Many more teachers are wanting to participate in the SVMI Summer 2019 Train the Trainer Program.  Many manufacturers are willing and excited to open their doors to provide more training and build a relationship for the future success of our future generations of workers.

J.L. Haley Enterprises

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“Our company joined SVMA to have access to new 21st. century workforce of men and women who have participated, and completed CTE manufacturing programs that are offered at both the high school and community colleges. I also enjoy having the access to a great pool of regional manufactures that share our company’s scope and services.”

—Steven Butts, General Manager, J.L. Haley Enterprises