By Markeshia Ricks - The Montgomery Advertiser

The manufacturing industry in Alabama is putting out the help-wanted sign, but the industry isn't looking for adults.

The industry is looking for the bright, young minds of the future, according to Ronnie Boles.

Boles is the president of Huntsville-based General and Automotive Machine Shop Inc. and has worked for the past three years to launch the "Dream it, Do it" initiative in the Tennessee Valley.

On Wednesday, members of the state Workforce Planning Council got a look at the program that serves nine counties in Tennessee and 14 counties in Alabama that could one day be a model for the state.

Boles said that manufacturing jobs have an erroneous reputation for being the kind of jobs "where you go into a cave and come out covered in dirt."

The jobs also have the reputation of being for the low-skilled.

"That's just not the case," Boles said. "We make robots and avionics. Manufacturing jobs are increasingly done through a sophisticated and intricate process."

Boles said another myth about the manufacturing industry is that it's on its last leg in the U.S., but he said nothing could be further from the truth.

According to the National Association of Manufacturers, if the U.S. manufacturing industry were a country, it would have the eighth-largest economy in the world.

He said manufacturing also pays wages that are 25 percent higher than non-manufacturing jobs. The biggest challenges that manufacturers face today are costs and finding qualified workers to fill open positions, according to the association.

"Dream it, Do it" is a national campaign created in 2005 by the National Association of Manufacturers to get young people thinking about jobs in manufacturing.

To entice young people, the Dream it, Do it Web site offers videos, a career tool kit and a rolling list of manufacturing jobs, salaries and degree requirements.

The campaign also has profile pages on YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. The Tennessee River Valley version of the initiative has a focus on information technology, engi-
neering and advanced technology.

Boles said the business community and schools must reach out to students as early as eighth grade. He said parents also have to be educated about technical careers.

Tom Surtees, director of the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, said a big challenge for creating a pipeline flowing with educated and skilled workers is getting more students to graduate.

At over 61 percent, Alabama has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country.

Surtees said when children are young, parents always ask a child what they would like to be when they grow up. He said it's a question that turns into "What are your plans for college?" by the time they get to high school.

"We've got to continue to ask them what they want to be at every stage of development," he said. "College might not be what they need or want ... and we've got to show them opportunities that allow them to excel."