From digtriad.com
Greensboro, NC — The North Carolina Center for Global Logistics and Piedmont Triad Partnership have partnered with the colleges to expand logistics operations, training and transfer management to the schools.
Logistics companies in the triad employ in excess of 67,000 people, according to the new partnership. This means about 1 in every 10 workers in the area is in logistics. The group is leveraging this as strength to attract even more jobs.
“As the economy starts to rebound, and which we have seen signs of that happening in this particular region with advanced manufacturing, logistics will grow with it,” said Randy Ledford, dean at the Davidson County Community College School of Business Engineering and Technical Studies.
Lefdord says the partnership is looking to spark new interest in logistics, train students “hands on” for jobs, attract companies to bring jobs to the Triad and be a resource center for logistics companies already here.
To do that, the partnership is building a campus near Piedmont Triad International Airport. Community college students in Randolph, Forsyth, Guilford and Davidson Counties will go here for hands-on training.
The initiative is also hoping to situate the industry for growth in this region pointing to the prime geographical location of the Triad; 70 percent of the US population can be reached within a two to three days drive from here.
“It’ll bring in jobs but it’ll also bring in smaller jobs as well. As you feed this particular need it really could help the Piedmont Triad area by having the center to formally collaborate with,” Ledford explained.
Rodney Reece, a logistics instructor at Davidson also adds: “[The partnership] shows that North Carolina is a major role player for logistics now.
“I think that that’s also a good thing because it’s going to offer a lot of opportunities for people in the area as well as people outside that can move into the area. It’s just a big growth rate.”
As far as how many jobs the colleges hope this initiative could bring, they say the sluggish economy has slowed some of the projections.
But they point to recent examples and companies like Fed Ex who opened new logistics centers in the area.
Fed Ex’s October 2011 opening of their center in Kernersville brought 300 jobs.