Paul Curtin (forefront), vice president and director of Hunt Valley Development, and Keith Patridge, president and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation, discuss NAAMREI with representatives of the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. Curtin and Patridge were part of a NAAMREI team that visited the park.

The first step in creating a world class advanced manufacturing region starts with creating a talent pipeline. That pipeline is flowing through the Rio South Texas region thanks to the North American Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education Initiative.”We’re developing human capital to form the talent pipeline,” explained Wanda Garza of South Texas College, who serves as the executive officer for NAAMREI, a consortium that stretches across seven Mexican border counties from Laredo to Brownsville.

Garza said the community colleges, universities, public schools and other education entities in the region are developing a talent network focused on advanced manufacturing. All together, more than 60 private and public sector groups form the NAAMREI alliance, which also includes economic development organizations, manufacturers, workforce agencies, and city and county governments.

“We see ourselves as a world leader in rapid response manufacturing,” Garza said, adding that the goal is to dramatically increase the manufacturing base that already exists in the region.

By “rapid response,” Garza means speeding up the time it takes to turn ideas into finished products. The focus is on helping companies develop next-generation products for aerospace, automotive, industrial, medical, consumer electronics and other key markets.

Keith Patridge, president and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation, says NAAMREI is helping his community and its manufacturing companies compete in the global arena.

“Our companies are looking globally, not regionally,” Patridge said.

The McAllen EDC joins the Rio South Texas Economic Development Council, STC, The University of Texas-Pan American and Region One Education Service Center as lead agencies for NAAMREI.

More manufacturing opportunities mean more jobs for the region, says Patridge, which leads back to the need for a skilled workforce and building a talent pipeline.

South Texas College’s Technology Campus, located in the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone, houses the NAAMREI headquarters. For the past eight years, STC has worked with area manufactures to provide workforce training in precision manufacturing, welding and other needed trades.

Other neighboring community colleges and universities are also recruiting and training the skilled workforce needed for the advanced manufacturing infrastructure.

The Rio South Texas College Manufacturing Alliance includes STC, Laredo Community College, Texas State Technical College and Texas Southmost College. The alliance provides training in Six Sigma efficiency management, leadership, precision manufacturing, industrial maintenance, tool and die, welding and robotics processes. An e-learning approach is used to create virtual labs that deliver a real work environment.

“Every college has an advanced manufacturing institute,” Garza said. “We have developed a regional world-class training network with courses that are seamless. Whenever a company needs to collaborate in a region we cooperate as a region.”

During the first 18 months after the alliance was formed, more than 1,000 new and encumbered workers received training.

The Rapid Response Manufacturing Center at UTPA is another education component. The center provides services and expertise in four primary categories–research, development and demonstration (RD&D); education; innovation and entrepreneurship; and technology-based business incubation.

NAAMREI’s talent pipeline doesn’t stop at the Mexican border. The group is also pulling talent from its neighboring Mexico border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros, and further into Mexico. Twenty-six technical schools in Reynosa are part of the education network, in addition to Monterrey Tech, which is patterned after MIT, and Mexico Poly Tech.

The NAAMREI team is also reaching out to other education partners. A team of NAAMREI representatives recently visited the world-renowned Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. Named for the triangle formed by Duke University in Durham, The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh, it is one of the largest research complexes in the United States. The group also visited the North Carolina State University Centennial Campus, one of the top research institutes in the country.

Patridge said the visit was to gain ideas from these leading institutions, as well as form alliances with them. A partnership is already in place with Michigan State University.

While forming its talent pipeline, NAAMREI partners are also looking down the road to build a research park for the region. Taking a regional approach has helped NAAMREI leverage $22 million in start up funds, including a $5 million WIRED grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

For more information on NAAMREI, contact Wanda Garza at (872-2770 or visit www.naamrei.org.