A talented, highly qualified and dutiful workforce: Seems simple, right?
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. But The Brickle Group – which has spent 80 years dedicated to continually developing inventive ways to keep the country warm – may just have cracked the code.
The Woonsocket-based company is a leading partner in the newly launched Manufacturing Center of Excellence’s “Manufacturing Essentials Series.” The initiative is a strategic partnership with Brickle, The Phoenix Partnership (which includes other manufacturers besides Brickle), Polaris MEP, the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association and the New England Institute of Technology.
The program, which began its third cohort on March 1, trains employees in several crucial facets of the manufacturing process. And it is just one of the many ways Brickle is giving back to the community.
“It benefits the state, but it also benefits the employers,” said Lindsey Brickle, development and management consultant for the company. “It really has been a collaboration of trainers, employers and supervisors who recognize the needs of Rhode Island manufacturers.”
Brickle, which is one of the largest wool-blanket manufacturers in the United States, is a conglomerate of several companies, including Hyman Brickle and Son Inc., Bouckaert Industrial Textiles, Metcalf Brothers, Northwest Woolen Mills and The Brickle Realty Group. Its manufacturing side specializes in blankets – starting with the raw fiber and culminating with the finished product – as well as uniforms and felt for industrial use (and even yarn for major league baseball teams). It does both in-house designs and commission projects, and works with a variety of fabric, including new endeavors with raw and recycled fibers.
The Manufacturing Center of Excellence is offered through Real Jobs Rhode Island, which is funded through the state Department of Labor and Training.
As Lindsey Brickle outlined, employees are trained on standard operating procedures and productivity; the basics of safety practices; the reduction of errors; the crucial elements of health and organization; and the general standards of lean manufacturing. She noted that it dovetails nicely with Brickle’s values and standards of excellence: performance, quality, customer service, learning and training, continuous improvement, safety and integrity.
The Manufacturing Essentials Series has been designed to meet once a week for two hours over a 10-week period for a total of five classes, Brickle said.
As Brickle explained, the program is specifically tailored to the needs of manufacturers in Rhode Island – and is also intended to highlight the state as a viable and attractive location for doing business of all kinds.
“It will showcase Rhode Island as a great place to manufacture,” said Brickle.
The goal is to not only attract new business from both in and out of state, she said, but to retain new and current workers. For participating in the program, workers receive college credit, as well as an accreditation through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration related to safety practices and procedures, quality, and standard operation procedures and productivity. They also receive reimbursements for child care costs and are paid mileage for travel to classes, said Brickle.
Meanwhile, employers are reimbursed for wages that would normally be paid to employees while they are in training.
Currently, the project involves several partners, including Aspen Dental of Warwick. About 14 employers have participated in the first three cohorts of the program – and that number is only expected to grow as it expands, Brickle said. The series will soon be launching a second-level supplemental course.
“It provides a resource for companies and workers for innovative training solutions that support industry growth and best practices,” she said. “It will help to ensure that recent hires and existing employees are equipped to meet the needs of Rhode Island’s manufacturers in order to fill more jobs, sustain employment and increase career advancement.” •
