Innovation
September 1, 2008 | Year 3 | Number 28
A way of life
By Jaime Parada
Large capitals follow talent. In the Monterrey, International City of Knowledge Project, promoting strategic clusters is one of the activities with more possibilities for the future. Entrepreneurs, academic institutions, and the government are already integrated in a project that has defined the necessary actions to operate under better conditions and accelerate economic growth.
At present, the industry is seeking technical personnel who have the needed level of competence to successfully participate in the world market. Increasingly, in Nuevo Leon, the concepts of education, production, and economy are expressed with the purpose of forming technicians who can offer more value added. Good practices in the fields of technical or higher education have enabled us to participate in a wider range of options to promote social efficacy, as well as improving the capacity of the working force to be employed.
The educational model of many countries, such as Germany, Canada, the United States, South Korea, and Japan focuses on the commitment of the business sector to continuously form the young people who attend top quality, middle and higher technical education that is strongly linked to the business sector, not only during their time as students but throughout their professional development as well.
The link between society and the productive sector is vitally important for this model. With the existing correlation between the formation of a young person and their professional performance, it is possible to determine where the greatest opportunities to apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes are. They are considered as determining factors to define the desired economic development.
The promotion of new ways to evaluate the operativeness and quality of a service stand out in the analysis of the new practices and experiences related to the management of human potential as a strategic component of organizations. Therefore, the members of the Nuevo Leon’s clusters have established, first of all, the formation of specialized technicians as a strategy for competitiveness with the goal of strengthening the value chain and Nuevo Leon’s industrial vocation.
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Hunting for talent,
competence,
aptitude…
Nuevo Leon advances towards greater value added processes by incorporating the human element with highly qualified mind and better salaries
The theme of human capital can be considered as the common denominator of the challenges faced by Nuevo Leon’s clusters. How can better technicians be developed to work in all the businesses of the triple helix’s strategic sectors?
Jaime Enrique Gonzalez, Coordinator of Industrial Groupings of SEDEC, explained that, after integrating the three economic players and creating the citizens’ council for each of Nuevo Leon’s strategic areas of development, one of the most important tasks was proposing action projects for the formation of human capital.
The automotive, home appliances, medical services, IT and software, nanotechnology, and biotechnology sectors require technicians with the necessary skills to handle the new technologies and absorb new knowledge, having the capacity to interact within a heterogeneous business culture, with skills and a real flair to advance and to be professionals with prestige and a high income, just like in other countries.
“Each business has its own requirements within the industry sector. Each one has its own training methodology and certification needs,” expressed Gonzalez.
After many meetings with representatives from universities and professional and technical schools, and after sharing the best practices for recruiting technicians, a consensus was reached regarding the most successful model to form and/or strengthen their human capital. After converting automotive, software, and medical service associations into non-profit organizations (asociaciones civiles), they took the first step to formalize their human resources integration committees by assigning specific projects for the formation of specialists. This was done in conjunction with academic institutions, technological universities and other technical and labor training centers such as CONALEP, CECYTES and CEBETIS.
In particular, two projects stand out within the automotive cluster: the “Nemak Model,” of the Technological University (UT) of Santa Catarina, and the TECMEC, of the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department of the UANL.
One hundred percent of those that graduate as Automotive Electromechanical and Maintenance Technicians from the UT in Santa Catarina have a job at the Garcia plants.
“We cannot keep up,” said Ana Tamez, Director of Linking at the UT in Santa Catarina, an institution whose enrollment capacity meets only 50 percent of the demand.
She pointed out that the Technological Universities System is seeking young people who have the need to enter the labor market in two years. Additionally, the system can be adapted to the particular needs of each industry by offering customized training programs via the Internet.
Tamez explained that the UT’s educational model was created to offer the productive sector Superior Technicians who have greater academic training and a profile that focuses on practical aspects in order to strengthen the link between management and operations within industries. IT graduates are an example of success since they are soon hired by the most important global companies.
On the other hand, the home-appliances cluster is developing a project that will take advantage of the expertise of retirees and will send them back to the companies with fresh knowledge.
Gonzalez pointed out that even though the organism is not yet mature, nevertheless it is giving form to some ideas related to the main challenge to overcome, which is personnel rotation, by offering certification for technicians of the home-appliance industry (characterized by seasonality) to work complete yearly cycles, even if they do so in different companies.
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Back to School
In the beginning of August, 60 operators from 7 Companies of the Automotive Cluster of Nuevo Leon set off towards the classrooms of the UANL’s Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department in order to enroll in a program that will allow them to become Electromechanical Maintenance Technicians (TECMEC).
This is a pilot program especially designed for the cluster. It consists of theoretical and practical modules that are carried out both at their work plants and at the University.
Manuel Montoya, Director of the Automotive Cluster, mentioned that the participating operators come from Arnecom, Nemak, Ficosa, Sisamex, Novocast, Katcom, and International, and who, after a 14-month period, will receive their certification as technicians.
The participating operators have been with their companies for some time, they show an attitude in favor of improvement, and have the desire to advance in the organization.
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PREPARING THEIR WINGS
FOR TAKE-OFF
The aerospace industry has experienced a significant growth in the last six years. The creation of 20,000 jobs nationwide in 186 companies devoted to manufacturing and assembly of parts, and engineering and design operations, demonstrates its high value added.
“This is a powerful reason to promote this sector in the State of Nuevo Leon,” expressed Jaime Enrique Gonzalez, Coordinator of Industrial Groupings in SEDEC. There is currently a small group of companies whose goal is to cause this industry to grow. For this reason they are training and certifying their personnel in various institutions. This cluster promoted the creation of the Aeronautics degree in the UANL, which began a year ago, and the Air Frame & Powerplant Mechanic License, which is taught at CONALEP in Apodaca.
Gonzalez said that the creation of the Center for the Development of the Aerospace Industry at Monterrey Tech implied a significant effort. The Center offers training for the personnel of these Companies to be certified in NADCAP and AS9000, which are considered as technical competence requirements for the contractual registration of test and calibration laboratories of the aerospace sector, which is managed by the Performance Review Institute (PRI).
SEDEC, together with BANCOMEX’s Eurocenter, using funds from the European Union, offers financial support to companies that are interested in obtaining their certification.
The objective of this link is to train personnel to be capable of facing the demanding processes required by this sector, which calls for a “zero errors” performance.
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INNOVANOTES
Recognition for Nuevo Leon Portal
According to a study published in “Política Digital” (Digital Politics) magazine, the electronic portal of the Government of Nuevo Leon is the best regarding Integration and Political Participation, and received an award of recognition from the Digital Editorial Council of “Nexos” magazine, after being in the top positions in similar sites throughout the country for several years. Researchers from the State of Mexico’s Autonomous University (UAEM), the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE), and the University of the Americas in Puebla (UDLAP) participated in the evaluation.
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