by Angelo Gangone, AWFS® Executive Vice President
Recently, AWFS®, in cooperation with WMIA, WMMA, and other industry associations, announced the launch of the Wood Industry Resource Collaborative (WIRC), an industry-wide career awareness campaign, developed by this group of industry associations in partnership with Nashville-based, INDUSTRIAL Strength Marketing. The chief aim of the WIRC campaign is to communicate wood industry career pathways and attract new talent to the woodworking industry.
For quite some time, the woodworking industry has suffered from a perception problem. Ask anyone that does not have any experience in our industry, and I am willing to bet they still think of woodworking as something that took place in their grandfather’s garage. Now, this may make some of us nostalgic and I have always admired anyone that has the skill and ability to take on a home renovation project or build a custom piece of furniture. I also realize that DIY represents a sizeable segment of our industry which has only gotten bigger, as a result of the lockdowns we have experienced over the course of the last year. However, if anyone really wanted to view a much more accurate representation of our industry, all they would have to do is to walk either AWFS®Fair or IWF and see the type of technology, innovation, and opportunities that our industry has to offer.
Speaking of the show, for decades, AWFS®Fair has displayed some of the most creative and incredibly well-designed, one-of-a-kind projects at our Fresh Wood Student Competition. The students that compete in this contest, are some of the brightest, most talented young people you would ever meet. Sadly, participating in this contest is about as close as many of these kids ever come to becoming a (permanent) part of our industry. In fact, it is certainly safe to assume that there are not many teachers or guidance counselors that have recommended the woodworking industry as a viable career option, which could even turn into entrepreneurship opportunity some day in the future. WIRC is a way for our industry to fill in the gap that the education system has left vacant. Although the participating industry associations have done a great deal of work over the last couple of years leading up to this launch, this project has literally been in the making for over a decade.
In 2007, AWFS introduced WoodIndustryEd.org. This website was a comprehensive effort to create a bridge between industry and education. During that time, AWFS® was also actively supporting WoodLINKS USA, a wood curriculum developed by industry partners and delivered through wood technology programs at high schools and technical colleges across the country. AWFS® was also actively involved in the development, sponsorship, and promotion of Woodwork Career Alliance (WCA) and was providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to students in the woodworking trades. These efforts were especially critical as more and more schools across the country were abandoning woodshop as part of their academic curriculum.
However, in 2014, AWFS® launched the “Meet the New Face of Manufacturing” campaign, which really became the impetus for all that was to come, and fostered conversations and new partnerships around the topic of career awareness. This campaign featured posters of young industry professionals that were then shared with educators throughout the country. These posters helped not only to raise student, teacher, and parent awareness about our industry, but also helped to update the industry’s image by highlighting young professionals that were well on their way to enjoying successful careers in the woodworking industry.
In 2015, former AWFS® Education Director Nancy Fister, initiated discussions about career technical education (CTE) and the need for industry-wide career awareness efforts at the annual Wood Industry Leadership Forum meetings, which informally morphed into the “CTE Wood Group,“ in 2017. At the time, Nancy had realized that, changing the perception of our industry and becoming effective in pushing for CTE funding on a national and state level, required the industry to unite in order to positively impact AWFS member companies, and to an even great degree, the customers they serve. The group then began meeting regularly via phone to share ideas and updates and identify ways to collaborate.
In Nov 2017, the “CTE Wood Group” held a formal, moderated, strategic planning meeting, hosted by the Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI). At this point the “founding” group was in place, and their objective was to work on an industry-wide career awareness campaign. Shortly after, the name was officially changed to WIRC (Wood Industry Resource Collaborative), a logo was designed, and a press release was distributed in 2018, announcing the formation of the group. Later that year, WIRC contracted with Industrial Strength Marketing to produce the campaign. As more industry associations joined this effort in February of 2019, WIRC members met with Industrial Strength Marketing to kick off the campaign development process and with a whole lot of research, hard work, and collaboration, the campaign was developed, refined, and finally launched this month.
Since becoming a member of the AWFS® staff in 2003, I have been fortunate enough to be part of an organization that truly has the benefit of our industry at the very core of every project it undertakes. AWFS® has always viewed industry and CTE as being vital, knowing that a well-trained and educated workforce will ensure that our industry will continue to remain strong well into the future. Although I highlighted some of the milestones and the steps AWFS® has taken to reach this point, they are just that – highlights. They do not begin to scratch the surface in terms of all that AWFS® has accomplished toward its goal of expanding and strengthening industry education, whether through public policy, or working with educators and industry through SkillsUSA, SkillsUSA California, or the local chapter of Society of Wood Manufacturing (SWM).
At this point, I would really like to thank all the individuals that worked diligently to get us here, including Nancy Fister, our former Director of Education, that laid the foundation for the WIRC project, and Adria Salvatore, Assistant Executive Director/Education, who has done a magnificent job picking up where Nancy left off and moving our education efforts forward. I would also like to thank Larry Hoffer, President and CEO of WMIA (Woodworking Machinery Industry Association) and Fred Stringfellow, Chief Executive Officer for WMMA (Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America), for their partnership and all of they’ve done to help bring this project to fruition. In addition, I would like to thank the following industry partners for their valuable input and financial contributions in helping plan and execute the WIRC campaign:
Doug Hague, Executive Vice President, AWI (Architectural Woodwork Institute)
Wade Thaxton, Director of Education, AWIEF (Architectural Woodwork Institute Education Foundation)
Gary Heroux, Technical Director, CPA (Composite Panel Association)
Mike Turnbull, Vice President, Marketing, International Woodworking Fair, IWF Atlanta
Kevin Gammonley, Executive Vice President, NBMDA (North American Building Material Distribution Assn.)
Stephanie Owen, Education & Member Engagement Director, NWFA (National Wood Flooring Association)
Amy Snell, Executive Director, WCMA (Wood Component Manufacturers Association)
Rosalie Leone, President and CEO, WMA (World Millwork Alliance)
In conclusion, I would also like to thank all the volunteer members from every industry association that supported this initiative. This is truly an effort that can only succeed by the support and cooperation of many for the benefit of all. Through the hard work of AWFS®, WMIA and WMMA, along with all of the other contributing associations involved in creating WIRC, our industry now has a way to form more meaningful and lasting connections and help to generate interest and excitement from the next generation to join our woodworking family.
And all of this is something to be very grateful for!