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Manufacturing Month puts spotlight on Central Louisiana industries, jobs available

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Manufacturing Month puts spotlight on Central Louisiana industries, jobs available

There’s a lot of manufacturing going on in Central Louisiana, both from local entrepreneurs like AFCO Industries Inc., and international companies like Procter & Gamble that not only have an economic impact locally but across the globe.  

Throughout the month of October, Louisiana Central, the region’s economic development agency, is putting the spotlight on area manufacturers to let the public know who they are, what they do, what kinds of jobs are available and what skills sets are needed to get those jobs. 

“When you are traveling across the country, and you’re stopped at a railroad crossing and you see a Union Tank Car, those are made right here in Central Louisiana. Or you’re putting up a fence and you buy a YellaWood from Lowe’s — that’s made right here in Mansura,” said Lafe Jones, vice president and executive director of industry relations at Louisiana Central. 

Procter & Gamble recently announced that it will invest $96.7 million to install new advanced production lines and increase production capacity at its facility in Pineville, where Tide Pods are made, Jones said. That, in turn, will bring with it new jobs. 

“Right now, there are about 10,000 manufacturing jobs in Central Louisiana,” he said.  

What a lot of people might not realize is how many career opportunities and good paying jobs are available in manufacturing. 

“Recent research shows that the Central Louisiana 10-parish manufacturing sector has grown 13% in the past five years,” Jim Clinton, Louisiana Central president and CEO said. “According to the Central Louisiana Region Lightcast Report, the sector will grow another 15% by 2028. Currently, manufacturing generates more than $1.7 billion annually in Gross Regional Product (GRP). This underscores the essential role that manufacturing plays in our economy.” 

The percentage growth for manufacturing jobs in Central Louisiana is higher than it is for the state and also the country, Jones said.

“We’re just seeing that they’re going to be more jobs, and more of those jobs need to be filled by folks here,” he said.

In addition to direct jobs at the plants, other jobs are created indirectly as a result. 

“For example, to use a wood processing plant manufacturer, the direct jobs would be those people who work for the plant, right? The indirect jobs would be the foresters, the loggers,” he said. Then there are the additional jobs created in the community such as those in retail and restaurants. 

In addition to the hands-on manufacturing jobs like welders or machinists, manufacturers have a wide variety of professions that help their businesses run, such as accountants, clerks, logistics professionals, human resources, marketing and communications, attorneys and nurses, just to name a few, said Jones and Keisha Hamilton, project coordinator at Louisiana Central.  

“All of the plants have a nursing station, so that’s just something else to consider. Even if you’re a nurse or going into the medical field, there still could be a position for you in manufacturing. It all ties together,” Hamilton said, adding that anything you could go to school for you could find a career with a manufacturer. 

Transportation coordination has become a huge issue, Jones said. 

“And so has procurement and purchasing in these plants,” he said. “They’ve gotten much more sophisticated about how they do that so those opportunities are there as well.” 

But he says the most in demand jobs are going to be technical skill and technology focused jobs.  

“Especially as we see more automation, and computer use with the technology,” Jones said. “But there’s still a high, high demand for maintenance engineering-type folks who ideally have some experience or training in that area, but many of the companies will do that type of training on site.” 

Hamiliton says Louisiana Central does everything it can to get information out there about careers available in local manufacturing plants to area high schools. 

They partner with Central Louisiana Technical Community College and about 10 local manufacturers to provide exploratory opportunities, such as Manufacturing Career Camp that is hosted each summer, to give high school students a closeup look at what manufacturing careers look like. 

“They get to find out about the benefits. They get to find out about the pay. They get to see what a ‘day in the life’ is like,” Hamilton said. “But they also get to find out what type of training and education is required for these jobs” 

Some might be entry level with no training required, while others require a four-year degree. 

“But a lot of them are skilled jobs that can take anywhere from six weeks to two years at CLTCC,” she said.  

Some of the training is available to students while they are still high school in certain credentialed programs, Jones said. RoyOMartin has a high school WoodWorks program that allows students to go straight into the workforce once they graduate. 

“All of the students in our region have the opportunity to earn the ACT WorkKeys credentials. And we have manufacturers here, RoyOMartin being one of them, that recognize and recommend that credential in their hiring process,” Hamilton said.  

That credential could be enough to get you in the door, she added, “because it says you have the soft skills necessary to perform their basic tasks and possibly work your way up.” 

That is something all students graduating out of this region already have. 

“We want them to know you can even take that somewhere while you figure out how else you want to further your education, or what other credential you want to get. That is a good starting point, and it does pair well with other degrees and credentials,” Hamilton said. 

A lot of manufacturers are looking for welders, machinists, engineers, engineer and maintenance technicians. They are also looking for people who are skilled in information technology, because everything is more automated. 

Having experience with coding and robotics is beneficial for the future workforce. At many plants, everything is automated, and humans just control the machines by watching it, programming it and pushing the buttons and making sure it does what it’s supposed to do, Hamilton said.  

Louisiana Central is using all its digital media platforms to highlight the area’s manufacturers.

“We have a landing page on our website where teachers, counselors — students even — can go see what exploratory opportunities are available as such as tours, field trips, scheduling  a guest speaker,” Hamilton said. They can also find out about internships and job shadowing on the website. 

Manufacturers like RoyOMartin, which produces wood products; AFCO Industries, Inc., makers of aluminum and fiberglass columns, and aluminum and vinyl AFCO-rail; railcar makers UTLX, and Plastipak Packaging, Inc., are ready and willing to schedule school tours or send a guest speaker to the school, she said. 

Many students and some adults are unaware of some of the products that are made locally that are sold globally, such as the handrails that are seen in home improvement stores that are made at AFCO Industries Inc., on Lee Street right here in Alexandria. 

“We’re just doing everything we can to get the information out about these careers and showing what the pipeline is like so that we can have students stay here, go to school here, live here and help build our economy,” she said. 

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