Industrial Careers Pathway® Announces New Alliance Partner

Chicago, Ill. -- December 3, 2007 -- The Industrial Careers Pathway® (ICP) announced today the recent addition of the Canadian Institute of Plumbing and Heating (CIPH) as the newest organization to join the ICP Partner Alliance.

ICP is a major North American workforce development initiative that links students and job seekers to career paths in industrial distribution and manufacturing through partnerships with local educators and employers.

The ICP Partner Alliance is a coalition of trade associations and organizations working to attract and prepare tomorrow’s workforce in the industrial distribution industry.

ICP’s objectives include:

• Increasing awareness and actively promoting the industrial distribution channel as a desirable career option for young people across North America.
• Developing community college programs to teach business, technical and distribution basics to young people and recruiting students and younger adults to attend.
• Connecting employers with potential employees and industrial distribution students to build a pipeline of qualified people entering industrial distribution positions.
• Helping distributors and manufacturers to create career pathways for employees, which include training, education, internships and mentoring programs.
• Collaborating with other organizations working towards similar goals to assure a skilled workforce for manufacturing and distribution.

Ralph Suppa, president and general manager of CIPH said the CIPH Board of Directors elected to join the Alliance for a variety of reasons.  “[ICP] ties in quite nicely with one of our long-range planning initiatives: recruitment and renewal.  This initiative began in 2004 in response to members’ views that attracting 'new blood' to the industry must remain an important CIPH priority,” he said. 

In addition, to assist with the recruitment and renewal initiative, CIPH has committed $25,000 to provide scholarships to ten community colleges across Canada.  The purpose is to encourage students to seek careers in the manufacturing, distribution or sale of plumbing, hydronic heating and the industrial pipe valves and fitting industry through the Industrial Distribution Leadership Certificate Program (IDLCP) developed collaboratively with Mohawk College (Hamilton, Ontario) and ICP. 

“IDLCP provides the last piece of the puzzle to close the loop on our recruitment and renewal initiative,” said Suppa.  “CIPH is ready to participate and provide strategic direction and input, and ultimately make this a national program [in Canada].  We know that the IDLCP will help meet the future demand.”

Including CIPH, a total of 24 associations now support the initiative.  In addition to CIPH, supporters include:

• American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association
• ASA Education Foundation
• Association for High Technology Distribution
• Canadian Fluid Power Association
• Electrical Apparatus Service Association
• Electro-Federation Canada
• Fluid Power Distributors Association
• Gases and Welding Distributors Association
• Heating Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International
• Industrial Supply Association
• International Association of Plastics Distributors
• International Sanitary Supply Association
• The Manufacturing Institute
• NAHAD–The Association for Hose and Accessories Distribution
• National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
• National Fastener Distributors Association
• National Fluid Power Association
• NIBA–The Belting Association
• North American Horticultural Supply Association
• Petroleum Equipment Institute
• Power Transmission Distributors Association
• Safety Equipment Distributors Association
• Security Hardware Distributors Association

Spearheaded by the PTDA Foundation, the Industrial Careers Pathway® is designed to increase awareness of industrial distribution; recruit entry-level employees to the industrial distribution channel; develop programs to teach business, technical and distribution basics; and create affordable resources for current employee development.  For more information, visit www.idcareers.org.