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April 27, 2015

The Journal Record

journalrecord.com

The Journal Record 04/27/2015

Copy Reduced to 62% from original to fit letter page

FOCUS ON WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Much ground to cover

Camp gives high-schoolers

taste of business, college life

BY DAVID PAGE
THE JOURNAL RECORD

ADA During the first week of June,

more than 100 high-schoolers will visit
the East Central University campus in
Ada to gain experience in the business
world and interact with executives.
Students attending Oklahoma Business Week will be divided into groups to
develop and operate a simulated company for the week, said Stacey Bolin, director of the event and ECUs Wilburn L.
Smith Center for Entrepreneurship.
Our goal is for the students to have
an opportunity to experience business
and not just be told about business, she
said.
Bolin expects 100 to 120 students for
the fourth-annual program May 31
through June 5.
Most of the students are from Oklahoma, but we have one student coming
from as far away as Tennessee, she said.
The cost for the camp is $200 per
participant, which includes housing and
meals for the week. Students stay in ECU
dormitories.
May 1 is the deadline for applications. Oklahoma Business Week is for
students who have completed at least
one year of high school.
A volunteer mentor from the business community works with each group.
Each group will develop and market
a product from a group of provided
items.
We use leftover garage sale items,
Bolin said. Each company gets to
choose items, and they get a roll of duct
tape and markers.
Activities include producing a commercial and making financial decisions.
They learn from their experience
operating the business and from their
mistakes, Bolin said.
At the end of the week there is a
trade show where teams pitch their
products. Business executives and entrepreneurs judge the presentations.
Students can combine the summer
fun they crave with real-world business
experiences, Bolin said. Plus, they
will get a test run at college life, meet
new friends, strengthen their leader-

Students attending Oklahoma Business Week at East Central University will be divided into groups to develop and operate a simulated
company for the week. COURTESY PHOTOS
ship skills, explore their career options
and get a chance to win a scholarship
or laptop computer.
The computer and $1,000 ECU
scholarship will be for members of the
winning business team from the trade
show.
Speakers during the week will include Alan Marcum, executive vice
president at Devon Energy Corp.;
Michael Prince, president and chief operating officer of Cole Haan; Steve
Hahn, president of AT&T Oklahoma;
and Rhett Laubach, author and founder
of YourNextSpeaker.
Oklahoma Business Week received a
2015 Great Inspirations Award at the Creativity World Forum in Oklahoma City.
Other awards for OBW include the

Students can combine the summer fun they

crave with real-world business experiences.
Plus, they will get a test run at college life, meet
new friends, strengthen their leadership skills,
explore their career options and get a chance to
win a scholarship or laptop computer.
STACEY BOLIN,
director of the Oklahoma Business Week
and the East Central University Wilburn
L. Smith Center for Entrepreneurship
Association for Continuing Educations
2013 Distinguished Program and the
Exceptional Program Award for Best
Conference in the Great Plains Region
by the Association for Continuing Education in 2013.

The OBW also was presented a

2014 ACBSP (Accreditation Council
for Business Schools and Programs)
Best of Region Award for Oklahoma,
Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and New
Mexico.

Manufacturers turn to robots amid worker shortage

ELBOW LAKE, Minn. (AP) A growing number of manufacturers are turning to robots amid a shortage of skilled
workers.
Small companies are following the
lead of larger manufacturers. Bob Kill,
president and CEO of consulting firm
Enterprise Minnesota, said a dwindling
workforce is behind the increase in use
of robots.
In a survey done last year by the Enterprise Minnesota, 67 percent of companies said they had trouble filling open jobs.

The market is forcing companies of

all sizes to automate where they can and
were going to continue to see automation of all kinds of types continue to
grow, Kill said.
Robert Grove, who owns a small machine shop in Elbow Lake, invested
nearly $250,000 in a robot a few months
ago, saying its almost impossible to
find skilled machine operators in the
small city.
The robot has boosted output,
Grove said, while also allowing workers

to focus on using their skills. Hes

thinking about buying another one, and
said his company cant survive without
automation.
Its going to get worse as far as Im
concerned, just with the baby boomers
retiring, he said. I mean, theres a ton
of skilled people retiring every day.
Alexandria Industries has used robots for more than a decade. The aluminum parts maker based in Alexandria
has nine robots and two more on order,
said engineer Todd Carlson, and theyre

helping the company get through a

tough labor market.
The robots havent replaced workers
at the Alexandria manufacturer, Carlson
said, and its made employees happier to
not do repetitive tasks.
They dont like loading parts. They
like troubleshooting, they like problem
solving, Carlson said. So it really
changes the level of operator were able
to attract and it really gives them more
satisfaction in the job that theyre
doing.

April 29, 2015 2:37 pm /