“South Carolina people are good at making things,” a former SC Secretary of Commerce was fond of saying.
The South Carolina Manufacturing Leadership Program, a partnership between the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance and Executive Education at the Darla Moore School of Business, is designed to help rising executives in the state’s manufacturing sector get even better at it.
As the welcome packet sent to participants coming into the special training program explains:
“The South Carolina Manufacturing Leadership Program (SCMLP) will provide high-potential employees in the manufacturing industry with a highly immersive, cohort-based educational experience. The SCMLP includes a distinctive curriculum that enhances the essential skills leaders need to maintain and grow our state’s robust manufacturing industry.”
Put another way, it’s “a high-potential leadership program,” explains Mark Cecchini, associate dean of ExecEd. “Our purpose is to make sure we give a leg up to our South Carolina high-potential employees to get C-level jobs in the future.”
That’s something quite a few major industries with a footprint in the state have seen the need for. One of those, The Boeing Company, chipped in to help get the program started. That came about thanks to the involvement of Tommy Preston, a vice president at the aircraft maker who not only is a University of South Carolina alumnus but was the student body president in 2007.
The program got under way in January 2024 and just graduated its second cohort. This class of 23 included up-and-comers from such companies as Mercedes Benz Vans, LLC; A.O. Smith; Dominion Energy; Thompson Construction Group; American Honda; BMW; the South Carolina Ports Authority; Michelin; and quite a few others, including two from Boeing.
The SCMLP makes use of training techniques ExecEd has mastered over the years through its Custom Solution programs, with an important difference, says Cecchini. A Custom Solution is tailor-made for a particular company, but “This is a touch different because it’s the whole alliance, not an individual company.”
The program isn’t just about “making things,” but has stressed imparting skills in a variety of areas that are essential to manufacturing, such as technology and supply chain.
This year’s classes have been spread from last August to this May. A series of six sessions were held in appropriate locations across the state, each on a different topic:
- SC and Global Business
- Strategy Meets Technology
- Supply Chain & Culture
- Driving Performance
- Leadership & Personal Development
- Bringing it all Together
And since so many of the businesses involved are global in focus, ExecEd leverages the Moore School’s expertise in international business – “It’s a thread that runs throughout the program,” says Cecchini – the training ends with an international trip, such as the one taken by the first cohort to Monterrey, Mexico.
Dr. Cecchini says the Moore School is very pleased with what the SCMLP has accomplished with its first two classes, and not only plans to continue, but hopes to adapt the model to other business sectors in the future.
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