Nissan searching for tech workers

Automaker needs at least 50 more before reaching full-production

Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.) 10/08/2003

Author: Barbara Powell / Associated Press

CANTON ? In a state where almost 50,000 manufacturing jobs have been cut

since early 2000, it would seem Nissan North America Inc. could easily

find workers for its new assembly plant.

But five months after opening, the plant is still searching for skilled

industrial maintenance technicians.

The company hasn't had any problems finding production technician, as

3048 are already on the job. But only 130 industrial maintenance

technicians have been hired.

Nissan needs at least 50 more.

It isn't that the job doesn't pay well. Nissan pays its maintenance

techs up to $26 an hour. And overtime is almost a given, particularly

since Nissan is ramping up its new plant to be able by next year to

churn out five different vehicles at annual volumes approaching 400,000.

Maintenance technicians will be only a small percentage ? less than 4

percent ? of the 5,300 workers the plant will employ when it hits full

production speed in mid-2004.

But these are the folks who must keep all that expensive machinery

running at the $1.43 billion plant ? who are responsible for the smooth

operation of 17 miles of conveyor belts, 853 robots and 70 lasers.

Ultimately, they're the ones who keep the assembly line rolling so

Nissan's new plant won't erode the Japanese company's reputation as the

world's most efficient auto maker.

"We totally depend on them," said Galen Medlin, the Canton plant's human

resources director. "We're multicrafted here; they're required to fix

whatever breaks down out here."

It's not that the plant, which opened in May, lacks for eager job

applicants. Mississippi's unemployment hasn't fallen below 6 percent

since November 2001.

Nissan has held more than 30 jobs fairs around the state, drawing more

than 90,000 applicants ? many of them laid-off workers from the dozens

of manufacturing plants that closed or severely curbed operations the

last few years.

The large applicant pool has made it easy for Medlin to find production

technicians to work in the plant's body, paint and trim and chassis

shops. Those jobs pay up to $21 an hour

Next week, Medlin and his staff will hold a job fair in Hattiesburg at a

Sunbeam appliance plant that's closing and laying off 450 workers.

Holmes Community College, which operates a branch campus near the Nissan

plant, is providing both pre-employment and post-employment training for

maintenance techs.

"During pre-employment training, we're evaluating them to see what skill

level they are at and training them at the same time to take them to the

next level," said Glenn Boyce, vice president for community and

workforce development at Holmes Community College. "These have to be

highly skilled people, academically and technically diverse."

Rickey Johnson, a 43-year-old Quitman resident, lost his maintenance

technician job last year at Burlington Industries when it closed its

Clarke County plant.

Johnson was hired out of the Holmes' pre-employment tech training

program. But even with 10 years in the field, he still had to undergo

several months of additional training to upgrade his skills.

The good news is that the jobs pay well.

The bad news is that the jobs are in Mississippi.