COMPANIES NEED TO LEARN FROM SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Hillary Gavan/Beloit Daily News (From left): Joe Stadelman, vice president of Angus Young and Beloit 2020 member; Jason Tyszko, executive director of the Center for Education and Workforce at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation; and Greater Beloit Chamber Executive Director Aimee Thurner chat at the Business Education Connection Event held Wednesday at the Eclipse Center. Businesses and educational institutions came together to learn how to bridge the skills gap.
                                                   

BELOIT - Companies need to take lessons learned from supply chain management to build their talent pipeline.

This year's event was titled "Building the Talent Pipeline." In addition to keynote speaker Tyszko, the event featured breakout sessions on mentoring; site visits and industry knowledge; training resources; internships, externships and youth apprenticeships. Businesses as well as representatives from the Janesville, Beloit, Beloit Turner, Clinton, Milton and Parkview school districts attended the event.

It was hosted by the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce, Forward Janesville, Rock County 5.0, the Greater Beloit Economic Development Corporation and the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board. Sponsors were Blackhawk Technical College, Beloit College and UW-Rock County.

To close the skills gap, Tyszko said businesses need to form successful partnerships with educational institutions and other workforce partners.

He added that educational institutions need to form partnerships with employers and job networks outside their communities to give students more job options.

There also needs to be a common set of performance measures to see if employers' partnerships and strategies are working.

Tyszko shared how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's TPM Academy trains companies on how to use the supply chain approach to close the skills gap.