"On Tuesday, I worked nine hours," says Dennis, pointing to a number on the line for that day. " My operation is serging sleeves. My SAH is 8.0500." (SAH is the Standard Allowed Hours to sew 100 garments.)

"My amount sewn is 126," she says, turning to the class. "To compute my earned hours for that day, what do we do, class?" No, this is not a math class plodding through a dreaded word problem. Dennis is a student leading a lesson on calculating a week's pay. She and her classmates -- single mothers from 19 to 26 years old -- are welfare recipients enrolled in a unique program at Okefenokee Technical Institute in Waycross, Ga.

The Apparel Manufacturing Center at OTI is training welfare recipients as industrial sewing operators. It helps those on public assistance make the transition to work as required by new welfare reform legislation, while simultaneously meeting the local apparel industry's need for a trained workforce. The program is now in its second year.

Waycross Molded Products in Waycross,
Georgia manufactures automobile floormats

But the OTI Apparel Manufacturing Center is not just for training workers. By acting as a sourcing agency and promoting more efficient manufacturing methods, the Apparel Center is fighting to save the region's cut-and-sew industries and preserve a livelihood for Georgians in OTI's seven-county service district.

NAFTA and Georgia Jobs
Although the North American Free Trade Agreement's overall impact on Georgia has been positive, OTI's service district has felt the downside of the treaty. The seven-county district -Atkinson, Bacon, Brantley, Charlton, Clinch, Pierce and Ware -- has experienced 15 plant closings and the loss of 1,656 jobs in the apparel-sewn products sector since 1993. Nationwide, the apparel industry has taken the biggest hit under NAFTA, with 14 percent of the jobs going overseas. Georgia lost 27 percent or 15,300 of its apparel (SIC 23) manufacturing jobs.

"The cut-and-sew industry is regarded as a declining industry," says Ray Miller, president of OTI. "But it is an important part of our local economy. Our mission is to support our industries."

In fact, few other options for employment exist in the region. Therefore, keeping the apparel industry viable is paramount to the area's economic health as a whole. Not only that, the domestic apparel industry finally is reaching an equilibrium. An estimated 20 to 25 percent of apparel industry jobs will remain in the United States largely because offshore suppliers cannot provide quick turnaround. If the local apparel industry can find the right markets and a stable workforce, it will be a reliable source of employment for South Georgia

Recently, the picture for the seven-county area has started to look better. "The apparel jobs are coming back," says John Pike, vice president for economic development programs at OTI. 'We have a niche market dealing with either high quality items or quick turnaround items or specialty things that can't be done offshore."

"Right now, we know industry needs 100 people. We know how many people are on welfare," says Pike. This is where OTI's Apparel Manufacturing Center comes in.

The Course
"This is a six-week course with guaranteed jobs," says Jimmy Roppe, instructor at the Apparel Center. "Most of our clients are hard-core unemployed -- never have worked a day in their life. . . Some have no high school diploma or GED."

The course provides 210 hours of instruction in basic industrial sewing skills and terminology, hands-on garment production, math skills and work ethics. Visits to area plants let students experience the work environment firsthand. Those who successfully complete the course are guaranteed jobs at Satilla Manufacturing in Blackshear. Waycross-area businesses, such as Matt's Jackets and Waycross Molded Products, also are eager to hire graduates because they require considerably less in-plant training and quickly reach 100 percent production or higher.

Jimmy Roppe inspects a
garment sewn by a student

"We were really fortunate to get Jimmy [Roppe]," says Pike, "because he has skills all the way from knowing how to sew to knowing how to lay out a plant to the monetary end and the management end."

Dedicated to Success
The program works because it is a partnership among OTI, area businesses, the Department of Family and Children Services, Family Connections, and other public and private agencies. Everyone involved is dedicated to success.

Roppe drives some of the students from their homes in Alma, which is 30 miles from OTI, to and from class. "Once you set your course in life that you're going to do more and do better, it opens up other doors automatically," says Roppe. He wants to make sure that those doors open for his students.

So do the project's partners. After a graduate goes to work, DFCS provides a $150 clothing allowance for work clothes, childcare and Medicaid/Medicare for one year, and transportation assistance. In Alma Bacon County, Family Connections (Department of Human Resources) provides additional support to graduates who go to work.

"You can make it here," says Victoria Simpson, an Apparel Center graduate working at an area plant. "But you've got to want to. I can do about anything he [the plant manager] puts me on now."

Since it started, six classes have completed the apparel program. In the October 1997 class, only one student quit the program and all but one of the graduates are working.

More Than Just Training
Training people for jobs does no good if the plants close. So the other aspect of the Apparel Manufacturing Center's program is to help the local apparel industry find work and modernize their operations.

Working with catalog company Augusta Sportswear, Roppe has managed to place work at four area plants keeping some busy through April 1998. "If they don't get the work, they're going to shut down," says Roppe. "Augusta Sportswear had the work and was fixing to send it to Mexico. We just tied the two together." Plans are to tie in with other catalog companies and bring even more work to the area.

Apparel Center graduate Tammy Brown works
in an Alma, Georgia apparel plant

Meanwhile, area plants are trying to modernize their operations. In the past, U.S. apparel manufacturers relied on low wages to stay competitive, but the cost of domestic labor can no longer compete with overseas wages. Now, the emphasis needs to be on "Just-In-Time" (JIT) technology and management systems. With JIT, manufacturers give their customers just the amount of product needed, delivered on time and with excellent quality. Industry experts believe the use of JIT techniques, such as modular manufacturing, will not only improve competitiveness, but is necessary for survival of the domestic industry.

Roppe is introducing modular manufacturing at several area plants. In this process, a team works to produce a completed garment. The number of garments "in-process" equals the number of team members -- eight team members means eight garments are in-process at a time. In the traditional bundle system, hundreds of pieces are in-process at a time. Each worker completes a single task before passing the "bundle" to the next worker for the next operation. It may take 18-20 days before a completed garment is produced.

Modular manufacturing offers many benefits -- cost savings in interest, accurate delivery dates, satisfied customers, improved quality, reduced number of garments in-process, faster turn of a dollar, and fewer irregulars. Small production jobs can be easily accommodated as well as highly customized work. The team approach also reduces employee turnover and absenteeism. Because team members must rely on each other for optimum product quality and completion rate, there is a strong sense of commitment and camaraderie. "You can save 30 percent with modular manufacturing compared to the bundle system," says Roppe.

Matt's Jackets - Waycross, Georgia

Matt's Jackets in Waycross already has formed a modular team to produce warm-up pants for Augusta Sportswear. The Apparel Center's January 1998 class will be trained to work as a team for Satilla Manufacturing. Satilla's management wants to adopt modular manufacturing, but reasons that it will be easier for newcomers to adapt to the change than for current employees used to the old bundle system.

What Lies Ahead?
After only two months on the job, former welfare recipient Tammy Brown already is exceeding 100 percent efficiency, raising her pay scale above base. "I like this ... because I can do my own work by myself," says Brown. "Jobs are real scarce in Alma. This is probably about the best place to get a job. "

That is why this program and the apparel industry need support. With limited employment opportunities in this rural area, the loss of a plant is a major blow to the local economy. Supporting what the community already has is the best way to leverage its assets,

"Georgia could be the textile leader in the nation," says Roppe. "But someone has to take the lead and say, 'We have the facilities to run your product; we have reasonable rates; we have the technical support' . . . and then companies, because of our ability to offer JIT response, excellent quality and competitive cost, will migrate down here to us. But if we just give up our hands, and quit with it, what's here now will leave. "It's going to be a challenge."

Kathleen Cason is editor of Results.