DCMA: The Association All About Manufacturers

Garland has been recognized as a manufacturing city since the 1950s, and numerous Fortune 500 corporations chose Garland as a location for their strategic operations. A critical part of the GEDP focus is the retention of key players in our community. In 2005, Richland College, part of the Dallas County Community College District, one of the largest community college systems in the nation, offered the Garland Chamber a loaned executive to work with employers on their training and talent development issues. As the Chamber continued to meet with companies, it was obvious that there was a great need for developing and maintaining the qualified workforce, as workforce development was frequently listed as one of the top three issues by those companies. The Dallas County Manufacturers’ Association was established in 2006 under the umbrella of the GEDP.

Since 2006, the mission of the Association is to provide the Dallas County manufacturing community with the best opportunities to be sustainable in the global marketplace through facilitating workforce development, advocacy at the Local, State and National levels, and the sharing of best practices among members. With programs like DCMA Leadership Academy, DCMA Symposiums, and Manufacturing Day, the Association strives to create and environment for manufacturers to gain knowledge from peers and stay up to date with trends and workforce needs.

Starting this year, DCMA together with the Federation of Advance Manufacturing Education (FAME) holds the 29^th FAME Chapter. The Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) is an employer-led program to provide and manage career pathways which produce global-best, entry level talent to member employers in key occupational fields. The goal is to address and resolve workforce problems with talent acquisition by providing workers in sufficient numbers based on each member employer’s need, on time, and of global-best talent to ensure business competitiveness. The program includes a strong employer-college activity in which both parties work together in close partnership to mutually promote, guide, manage, and co-educate students in the core Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT) Program. Working together with 10 companies: Bimbo Bakery, Dal-Tile, Pastipak Packaging, Inc., Packaging Corporation of America, Brill/CSM Bakery, Carroll CLEAN, Interceramic, Kraft Heinz, Pepsico, Sherwin Williams, and the DCCCD (Richland College) FAME is looking to further develop the “Global Best AMTs training program” that consists of a diverse pool of students. Each party has mutual obligations that must be met in order for the program to succeed, to accomplish its goals, and to service its employer members.

For more about DCMA programs, visit our Resource Guide here.