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Ford, Bing Group Create Nonprofit Training Center to Help Minority Suppliers

30 July 1999

Ford, Bing Group Create Nonprofit Training Center to Help Minority Suppliers

    DEARBORN, Mich., July 29 -- Ford Motor Company and
the Bing Group have teamed up to build the Detroit Manufacturing Training
Center, a nonprofit facility in the federal Empowerment Zone in Detroit that
will train workers for positions with minority automotive suppliers.
    The eight-week training sessions will include instruction in several
course areas, such as welding, injection molding, metal stamping, seat
assembly, computers, work ethics, team building, and other business and
professional skills.  Courses will be free to the students.  The Center is
expected to begin operation next year.
    "There is a void of well-trained, skilled workers," said Dave Bing,
chairman and chief executive officer of the Bing Group.  "This Center will
serve to fill that need, helping employees enhance their skill sets, suppliers
expand their capabilities and Detroit improve its work force."
    About 400 students are expected to take training courses at the Center
each year.  Students will be currently employed or newly hired workers from
minority automotive suppliers or recent high school or technical school
graduates.  A stringent admissions process will be followed to ensure that
students meet minimum education criteria, have a desire to work and a
motivation to learn.
    "This Center represents another example of Ford's commitment to Detroit
and its economic vitality," said Carlos E. Mazzorin, Group Vice President of
Purchasing and Ford of Mexico.  "Ford, its minority suppliers, the rest of the
automotive industry and Detroit benefit by this innovative, collaborative
approach to meeting the training needs of supplier work forces.  The Center
also reflects the creativity of Ford's nationally recognized Minority Supplier
Development program."
    The 40,000-square-foot Center will be constructed by Ford Motor Land
Development Corporation on property adjacent to the Bing Group's headquarters
and manufacturing campus at Oakland and Caniff streets in Detroit.  Bing Group
donated the land and Ford Land will lease the building to the nonprofit Center
for $1 a year.
    Ford will pay for the approximately $3 million cost of construction; in
addition, it will provide most of the equipment needed for the Center.  The
Bing Group and several other minority suppliers will split the first-year
operating costs and have access to the Center's resources.  Future annual
operating costs are expected to be funded by public and private money.
    The Center's formation is another example of Ford's nationally recognized
minority supplier development program.  This is the fifth program in the past
two years that Ford has helped lead to attract business to Detroit.  In total,
the programs have created more than 500 new jobs in the city.