NORTH KINGSTOWN – Toray Plastics America Inc. is growing thanks to increased demand for its products but there’s a problem that many other employers can relate to – not enough employees.
The North Kingstown-based company is hoping a pilot transportation program spearheaded by the R.I. Manufacturers Association will help.
When Your Period Is Disrupting Your Life, It’s Time to Talk About It
For many women, heavy or irregular menstrual cycles are often brushed off as “normal”—something to…
Learn More
The program, called “Have Jobs Will Travel,” involves transporting workers in an express commuter van to an employment destination, such as from Woonsocket to Quonset Point Commerce Park, where Toray is located. The annual cost for a passenger van transporting 10 people to and from Woonsocket to Quonset Point would be about $11,000.
Dave Chenevert, executive director of the R.I. Manufacturers Association, says the service he came up with could be expanded to other parts of the state if successful. The goal is to make it easier for workers to get to work so that companies can recruit them and fill workforce vacancies.
Chenevert said the 1950s television show, “Have Gun — Will Travel,” was the catalyst for the name of the program.
“It’s an innovative, and relatively inexpensive project,” he said.
RIMA began exploring the idea for the program in September. Chenevert said it has evolved since to include the use of vans for the service.
Chenevert said he hopes manufacturers will pitch in on the monthly cost for the service, which would be funded with Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funding from participating cities. The goal is to have the service, deploying mini or passenger vans to transport workers, operational sometime in the first quarter of the new year.
Chenevert said RIMA explored the R.I. Public Transit Authority’s pilot program, the “Quonset Express,” as a solution, but it wasn’t a good fit, as manufacturers require greater flexibility with their workforce’s hours. RIPTA’s program was an express bus to the park on a predetermined schedule.
Despite that, Chenevert said RIPTA will still be part of its program by supplying the vans.
Chenevert said Toray Plastics America, Inc. is a manufacturer located at Quonset Point Commerce Park that is working with RIMA to help get the program off the ground.
Lisa Ahart, a vice president at Toray Plastics in North Kingstown, who handles labor issues, said the company has seen growth during the pandemic, but needs to augment its 600-member workforce to meet demand for its plastic coatings, food packaging materials, labels, films and foams. She said transportation would aid the company’s efforts in recruiting candidates.
“The populations in Woonsocket, Central Falls, and Pawtucket don’t necessarily have reliable transportation, and there is no public transportation coming into the [Quonset Point] industrial park,” said Ahart. “So, if we can reach this untapped population everybody at the company is in agreement that this would be the best thing for us to do.”
Ahart said Toray is looking to hire 18 production technicians and plans on holding a job fair on Jan. 29 at its Quonset Point facility. Once workers are hired that live in the target cities, they will then implement the transportation service.
One issue the company has encountered is lack of interest in job fairs, so a transportation component makes things more appealing to candidates, she said. Toray will also consider transporting candidates to its job fairs.
“The investment would be minimal for a greater return as we are envisioning it right now,” said Ahart, who noted that manufacturers would contribute “monthly payments [to the program] to have some skin in the game.”
Ahart said since Toray manufactures food packaging products, such as ready-to-eat-meals, its products have been in demand during the pandemic. However, wait times for products are longer than the company would like due to staff shortages.
“It’s the law of unintended consequences – we started getting orders like crazy,” she said. “So, there is an urgency.”
Ahart said Toray hopes to have the transportation program up and running by late February or early March.
Chenevert said some time in the first quarter is the goal, and that other industries could use the transportation model if it’s successful to support their workforce needs.
“I don’t care who gets the glory,” he said. “If we can make it work, we should be able to do it elsewhere for other businesses.”
Chenevert also said that for the first time in RIMA’s history it is offering a free job portal on its website. There is no cost to employers or job seekers, he said.
“The Department of Labor and Training is supportive of it,” he said, noting that it will officially be launched in January. “It’s strictly for manufacturing positions.”
Chenevert said the job portal idea was born prior to the pandemic, but revisited over the past six months, and is now operational on RIMA’s website.
“We did a trial run and have companies that have already posted positions on it,” he said. “If we can get more people exposed to jobs the better off we all are.”
Cassius Shuman is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Shuman@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @CassiusShuman.
