Timber and Forest Products Michigan Regional Skills Alliance

About MiRSAs
In November of 2005 Northern Initiatives was named convener of the Forest and Timber Products Michigan Regional Skills Alliance (MiRSA). The MiRSA initiative provides a framework to organize the workforce development needs of the Michigan business community by industry clusters. These are business-driven, business-focused partnerships that address workforce issues in a specific region and industry sector.

The primary goal of this MiRSA is t o provide Michigan Timber and Forest Products businesses with a highly skilled workforce and connect Michigan citizens to good jobs with opportunities for career advancement.

In cooperation with industry partners, the Forest and Timber Products MiRSA is working to understand current markets and identify opportunities within new markets, as well as to develop curriculum and training for new entrants and current professionals in the workforce.

Background
The Forest & Timber Products industry accounts for a significant share of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula economic activity and is a large employer in the Great Lakes region. However, workforce numbers are declining as forestry related programs are down nationwide, and national job forecasts for the industry predict negative growth. In addition, the average age of the workforce is steadily increasing and a significant number of currently employed individuals will be eligible for retirement in the next five to seven years. Essentially, the Forest & Timber Products industry is mature, and thus shares similar characteristics with other mature industries. One of the key characteristics that constructs significant roadblocks to growth and hinders competitiveness in the industry is fragmentation. This means generally speaking, each sector of the industry has its own trade organizations, strategic relationships and supply base. When issues affect multiple sectors, the fragmentation prevents problem-solving, delays communication, and impedes coordinated strategizing and implementation.

Our Mission
 The intent of the Timber and Forest Products Regional Skills Alliance is to impact the current available workforce, identify training choices and costs, develop programming to prepare a replacement workforce if identified as a need, and to identify emerging markets which could make the industry more competitive in the global marketplace. To learn more about the Michigan Regional Skills Alliances and their goals, visit www.michigan.gov/rsa.

Accomplished Goals

  • Increased its employer partners by 50% at the end of the second year.
  • Increased its community and education partners by two for each of the active years.
  • Developed varied opportunities to increase industry-wide communications among sectors including:
    • Convened meetings of the advisory board (quarterly plus additional necessary conferences) backed by regionally-focused meetings and/or communications bi-monthly.
    • Involved use of internet technologies to collect and disseminate information.
    • Developing a planning committee for an industry wide conference.
  • Initiated and quantified a survey to discern skill training gaps
  • Research to determine advantages, if any, in recruiting workers with a certificate of documented training in a core skills set
  • Explored potential certification systems

Current Goals
To date we have obtained a baseline of industry information and are moving forward with curriculum design and market research. Employer and education partners will work together in 2007 to research and develop curriculum to meet the workforce gaps identified. To meet this broad goal we will be taking the following steps:

  • Continue quarterly meetings to communicate with educator and employer partners. As benchmarks are set and achieved, we will distribute the information for the benefit of the industry with updates on this website. Specifically, we intend to continue recruitment of industry and educational partners over the next two years (For more information, contact Dayna Keranen at (906) 228-5571 x660 or dkeranen@niupnorth.org).
  • Work with education and employment partners to respond to results of the industry workforce survey by researching available testing and certification systems. These key partners aid in curriculum selection, as well as the testing and certification process.

    Response to the survey will focus on two critical industry issues. The first is an impending workforce shortage that requires promotion of skills. The second is competitive pressure that requires a workforce that is more skilled, more knowledgeable and able to make difficult decisions in the field. These decision making skills protect costly capital investments and produce the highest possible yields because of a thorough understanding of markets.
  • Continue progress on the industry event planned for October 17, 2007 at the Radisson Hotel in Lansing, MI. The event will be an opportunity for different sectors to come together and define industry issues, as well as develop actionable outcomes that will be presented at a legislative reception.

More information regarding RSAs>>