Ford gives students taste of assembly line

After walking across Jeffersontown High School’s stage in May, Christian Bishop was uncertain about his path forward.

For Bishop, he was always told he must attend college. It was the only path to success, he thought.

However, thinking back to the opportunities a Ford Motor Co. representative presented to his Jobs for America’s Graduates class, Bishop found another possible path: manufacturing.

For the first time, Kentuckiana high school graduates were granted the opportunity to jump on the assembly line at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant. As part of the program, the teens worked two to three days a week on 10-hour shifts beginning at 6 a.m. or 6 p.m.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ford hosted a forum with the teenagers who have been working at the plant all summer. The teens reflected on their lessons learned on the line and what it meant to gain “real world” experience in manufacturing.

The program was started in hopes of inspiring the next generation of workers to enter the manufacturing industry. While the demand for manufacturing employees is high, fewer people are entering the field, said Tami Hatfield, Ford workforce development coordinator.

“We’re in a manufacturing crisis,” she said. “Between now and 2025, there will be 2 million jobs that go unfilled just because we don’t have the necessary people to go into these jobs once they’re available.”

For Louisville manufacturers, many job applicants even fail to show up for their pre-employment tests.

Starting pay at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant is $15.78 an hour with added benefits such as tuition reimbursement up to $6,000 annually, 401(k) plans and free medical insurance after 90 days.

“If we’re facing a problem with jobs making $15.78 an hour, what are all the other manufacturers in our area facing as well?” Hatfield said.

The problem, Hatfield said, is encouraging the younger generations to pursue a career in manufacturing. In high schools, success is defined as attending a four-year college, she said. Ford is working to change this perception.

With a “boots on the ground approach,” Ford is exposing the next generation to careers in manufacturing before they enter the workforce. In this way, the transition from high school to the workforce can be made easy, Hatfield said.

The program is wrapping up for some of the high school graduates who will attend college in the fall or will be returning to college. The teens attending college are pursuing a science, technology, engineering or mathematicsdegree. Many of the teens were participants in Ford’s Next Generation Learning program, an initiative to provide project-based, STEM curriculum in schools.

For Alex Beebe, his summer at Ford on the assembly line prepared him for his future as an engineer. Beebe, a Jeffersontown High School graduate, plans to attend the SPEED school at the University of Louisville this upcoming fall semester. He said while at Ford, he learned the importance of good engineers at manufacturing plants.

“Besides just having the title as being a mechanical engineer, chemical or electrical engineer, there’s something at the core of it,” Beebe said. “... It doesn’t matter who they are, they figure out how to solve the problems and make things better here.”

The other high school graduates hope to pursue a manufacturing career elsewhere or work full time at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant.

After two months with Ford, Bishop said he wants to stay with the plant and he hopes other high schoolers see that there is more than one path forward.

“I hope more high school students take more opportunities like this,” he said. “… It’s somethin’ good.”

Reporter Lashana Harney can be reached at 502-582-4188 and lharney@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @l ashanaharney.