Ky. team teaches Russians to 'trim fat'

OCTC preparing 2004 study trip to Eastern Europe

Inmate educational opportunities vital

Evansville Courier and Press
August 25, 2003

Ky. team teaches Russians to 'trim fat'

MADISONVILLE, Ky. - A Madisonville educator was among a team of five Kentuckians who traveled to Russia earlier this month to help industry representatives there learn how to streamline their manufacturing processes.

Michael Davenport, director of Community and Economic Development at Madisonville Community College, joined an engineering team from the University of Kentucky's Center for Manufacturing Systems for an Aug. 1-9 visit to Moscow.

Their goal was to teach "lean manufacturing techniques" to both Russian industrialists and a team of Russian trainers.

The techniques they taught are called "lean" because they are meant to trim the fat, or waste, from the manufacturing process, Davenport said. In Russia, Davenport said he observed waste in manpower, with people doing a lot of standing around, waiting on the next station to do something. Some waste he attributed to older equipment.

The contingent from Kentucky worked with two major groups: York International, which ironically was Madisonville's largest employer before closing its plant here in the 1980s, and Russia, the world's second-largest producer of aluminum.

Working with members of Center for Business Skills Development, the Kentucky group set up a mock assembly process to teach Russian executives.

"We set up a simulated factory that builds and tests products and ships them to customers," said Dave McDuffy, director of UK's corporate training program and a member of the team.

The lean manufacturing techniques they teach are based on Toyota's production system and philosophy, he said.

"The whole philosophy is based upon understanding the difference between value-added steps and nonvalue-added steps," he said.

He cited high inventory levels as a problem for Russian industry. That causes problems of storage and movement of the product, he said.

McDuffy said the program originated from work the UK group was doing about a year ago with York International executives in London. York's Moscow executives at that session expressed interest in having a similar one there, he said. They had also worked with the Center for Business Skills Development, which he said had a "good reputation for adapting American training to Russian audiences."

"It makes more sense for Russian trainers to train Russian companies, because I don't see myself learning how to speak Russian any time soon," said Davenport.

Davenport said he was at first hesitant to accept the Russian invitation because the mission of the Madisonville campus is to work with Kentucky business, while the UK center has an international mission.

Davenport, who has been at Madisonville Community College for 27 years, said the school's Center for Excellence is working with about 15 companies from across the state to teach them lean manufacturing concepts.

Both Davenport and McDuffy described their work in Moscow as successful.

"I believe the folks at York International were able to see the advantage in doing things this way," McDuffy said.

"And we'll probably do additional work with them."

The fall of the former Communist government and the country's adoption of a free-market system means government control of industry in Russia is "pretty well in the past," Davenport said. "Basically, the door is wide open for them."

Moscow, with a population of 13 million, is a very fast-paced city, Davenport said, adding that New York by contrast is slow.

"Cars were doing 60 to 70 miles an hour through the middle of town, bumper-to-bumper," he said. "They're used to it; I'm not."

Messenger-Inquirer
August 21, 2003

OCTC preparing 2004 study trip to Eastern Europe

Pam Wilson, an associate professor at Owensboro Community and Technical College, had never been outside of North America until she flew to the Czech Republic this summer to teach a class in Olomouc, Owensboro's sister city.

Now, she can't wait to get back.

"Vienna was absolutely beautiful," she said. "Budapest was so gorgeous. Walking through Olomouc, there were so many beautiful houses with their window-box flowers."

That may not sound like teaching, but the 25 students who took part in OCTC's summer study program did spend one entire day a week in a classroom. The rest of the time, Eastern Europe was their classroom.

They visited World War II concentration camps ("a wrenching experience," Wilson said), cemeteries that were old when Kentucky was a frontier, churches, museums and a lot more.

The only problem, Wilson said, was this summer's record heat wave. "It was above 100 degrees in Budapest," she said. "And the humidity was 100 percent too. It was downright miserable.

"A lot of it was cultural awareness," Wilson said. "We now know what it's like to be a foreigner in a culture that's different from your own."

Wednesday, OCTC began accepting reservations for its 2004 summer study program in the Czech Republic -- with side trips to Kracow, Poland; Vienna, Austria; Budapest, Hungary; and Bratislava, Slovakia.

Total cost, including airfare, lodging and meals from May 27 to June 29, is $2,500, said Bill West, executive director of the Owensboro Sister Cities Program.

"It's really a bargain," he said. "The economy of Eastern Europe is not as high as Western Europe's."

Roger Murphy, a Western Kentucky University professor, will lead a two-week tour of Poland and possibly Germany at the end of the Czech Republic visit, West said. Cost for that trip is roughly $1,600, he said.

This year, Murphy's group of 12 journeyed on to Russia and toured Moscow and St. Petersburg.

"We try to keep expenses down so our students can learn about other cultures," West said. "We're the most powerful nation on the planet today. But many of our people don't even know where other countries are."

The trip is limited to 24 students.

"We're offering it first to our students, then students at Brescia (University) and Kentucky Wesleyan (College)," West said. "But this year, most of the students who went with us were from Western."

Olomouc is the fifth-largest city in the Czech Republic, with a population of 103,372 -- roughly double Owensboro's.

Messenger-Inquirer
Augsut 24, 2003

Inmate educational opportunities vital
(Editorial)

College courses offered by Brescia University were well-attended among inmates at the Green River Correctional Complex in Central City, so in that sense it's a shame the courses will no longer be offered.

But the important thing to remember is that it really matters not who is providing the classes, rather that education remains an option for those behind bars. Studies have shown that educating and rehabilitating inmates is an investment that saves society great costs down the road.

Last spring, the Kentucky Department of Corrections decided it would be cheaper to have the government-funded community and technical college system provide classes to inmates. The result is that the Central City branch of the Madisonville Community College will assume responsibility for all inmates, and Brescia -- which provided classes to about 30 inmates -- will be forced to abandon its program.

The state admits the decision is about saving money and streamlining services, and from purely a financial perspective, the move makes sense. That's not to take anything away from Brescia, which actually reduced its rates to accommodate the state. But having one government agency (the corrections department) work directly with another government agency (KCTCS) is likely more economical.

In tough economic times, if the state doesn't find a way to cut costs to the program, the alternative may eventually be to reduce or eliminate services. Such a scenario would have potentially devastating consequences.

While low education levels aren't a direct cause of criminal activity, there is ample evidence to link the two. The percentage of illiterate adults behind bars is nearly five times more than that of the general population.

More than seven of every 10 people entering state prisons have not completed high school, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Comparatively, the Federal Bureau of Prisons released a report in the mid-1990s that said the more education an inmate receives while incarcerated, the less likely he or she is to be re-arrested. Studies in various states support this theory.

In Texas, the recidivism rate for those without a degree was 60 percent but only 15 percent for those who received a degree behind bars. In Arizona, the re-arrest rate for inmates who completed at least two years of college was 10 percent. And Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York reported re-arrest rates between 1 percent and 15 percent for inmates taking higher education courses, according to The Center on Crime, Communities and Culture.

Consider that it costs more than $14,000 a year to house an inmate at Green River Correctional Complex, and couple that with the increased likelihood that an educated inmate can find employment upon release, and it's easy to justify the investment in education within prisons.

Transferring delivery responsibilities to KCTCS seems to offer the best chance for keeping such services available, and in the end, that's what is truly important.