Northeast Arkansas Looks to Workforce Collaboration to Support Steel Industry’s Growth

Patrick Schueck, Zach Moon, Todd Shields, Dan Brown & Chris Heigle during a panel discussion at Arkansas State University's Catalyst event (Photo provided)

Arkansas’ steel companies are looking to each other and to educational institutions to solve industry issues like a labor shortage and a need for more specialized training.

At Arkansas State University’s Catalyst Forum on Thursday, leaders from the steel industry, health care, higher education and other sectors gathered to discuss recent collaborative partnerships that are driving growth in the region.

For Arkansas Northeastern College President Chris Heigle, the challenge is clear: Mississippi County needs more people.

“We’re at a capacity issue,” Heigle told Arkansas Business over a phone call. “We’ve got a lot of capital on the ground. We’ve got to get a larger population to support that. That’s going to bring in retail, that’s going to bring in quality of life.”

The steel industry’s growth in the region has only accelerated the need for a larger labor force and skilled workers.

“The rapid expansion of the steel making ability of northeast Arkansas has caused us to be very aggressive in our approach and how we’re working to bring in talent to be able to service those industries,” Lexicon Inc. CEO Patrick Schueck said. “So we’re basically uncovering every stone that we can that allows for a complete and better workforce to be able to service our end customers.”

Educational leaders believe regional collaboration is key. Through a new partnership, ANC and A-State are aiming to expand access to workforce training programs across northeast Arkansas.

The partnership will create educational pathways from technical training to engineering degrees. Heigle emphasized that while ANC excels at providing skilled workers for immediate industry needs, the partnership with ASU opens doors for long-term career advancement.

“We know we can take an individual and get them out to the industry where they can make a lot of money very quickly,” Heigle said. ANC has the lowest tuition, and also the highest salaries for recent graduates. “But what happens in 15 years if an individual wants to upskill? A two-plus-two agreement with A-State for engineering is going to allow them to step into much larger salary positions, add tremendous value to the company and allow those positions to go to Americans and not have to be outsourced.”

And the partnership with A-State is different because ANC doesn’t typically partner with four-year institutions.

“The largest challenge is [giving] the industries the confidence to move forward for the next 20 and 30 years. And so the impetus to work with the university is truly to gain access in a trustworthy way with a larger population center,” Heigle said. “We’re looking at the pieces, we’re trying to solve a problem, and this makes sense.”

For companies like Lexicon, these educational partnerships are crucial.

“We know how to build a steel mill, we know how to build a bridge, we know how to build a rocket stand. We’re not in the business of educating people,” Schueck said. “We believe that there has been a void in the educational system when it comes to training and workforce development.”

Schueck said that void is the reason educational partnerships are so important, but also why the company has established its Lexicon University program in partnership with ANC. The “Lex U” program is a workforce development training program that provides skill development classes for free for all Lexicon employees.

A-State Chancellor Todd Shields sees parallels between northeast Arkansas’ current trajectory and northwest Arkansas’ earlier growth.

“If I go back to 2014, I think the opportunities here are even greater than they were then,” Shields said. “You’ve got companies here investing $3 billion — more than any company has ever invested in Arkansas before.”

The university is adapting its curriculum to meet industry needs across various disciplines. Shields said within the next five years that A-State will have business schools focusing on accounting, supply chain and marketing, tailored to industries in northeast Arkansas. He also said engineering students will be doing research that helps those industries solve their problems.

Through these programs, Shields hopes to provide the steel industry “the talent that they need,” as well as provide Arkansans with new opportunities. He emphasized that many potential students don’t recognize their own capabilities.

“When I talk to kids in high school, they don’t necessarily think they’re college material,” Shields said. “I’m going, ‘What are you talking about? You’re so much more prepared, so much smarter, capable and skillful than I was when I went to college.’ The more opportunities you provide for them to show them that they do have the potential to do it, the better.”

Schueck emphasized that workforce development also requires active participation from industry.

“The easy thing to do is come to a conference and walk out and do nothing,” Schueck said. “If you don’t put two steps forward into working with ANC or A-State, you’re not fulfilling your job to the community. If we all walk into this with the right mindset, that what’s better for the whole is better for the individual, we’re going to be able to touch a lot more people by getting them involved in steel.”

Schueck said he believes northeast Arkansas’ steel companies are “pulling from the same end of the rope,” and that’s there room for collaboration even with competitors.

“If we have collaboration, not only with the local educational institutions and high schools, but if we wrap that up with collaboration with our end customer being Nucor, Big River, Hybar, it allows for us to be able to unify our marketing strategies and make people aware of the needs and the payment available to people who would choose to be in our line of work,” Schueck said.

The commitment to regional cooperation extends beyond just workforce training. Leaders see it as essential to northeast Arkansas’ future growth and development

“Growth does not happen in a silo,” Heigle said. “We’re moving forward with trust, we’re moving forward with respect and we’re trying to solve a very large regional problem where the solution is large-scale population success.”