With demand for logistics, warehousing, and supply-chain jobs continuing to rise in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, Norco College is procuring talent for the industry by offering quality training to keep goods moving from manufacture to consumer.
Norco’s Supply Chain Automation program focuses on the use of technology to automate tasks for streamlining and efficiency. Students learn how to install, operate, support, upgrade, and maintain the automated material handling equipment and systems that support the supply chain.
“We get to practice all the things that we are learning in class,” says Oscar Betancourt, a student in the program. “We get to practice all sorts of stuff, so it helps a lot.”
Betancourt, who currently works in Target’s Engineering and Facilities department, started as a warehouse worker for Target after leaving the military. He then switched over to maintenance. “That’s when I kind of started paying attention to what the mechanics were doing there at work. That caught my interest,” he says.
Betancourt enrolled in the Norco program to learn the skills he needed to move into an Industrial Machinery Technician position. “I’m pretty good with troubleshooting. I like working with my hands and fixing stuff,” says Betancourt, who thinks he may want to learn more about robotics and move up into a senior systems engineer position down the road.
His options will be plentiful as graduates are primed for well-paying, in-demand jobs such as supply chain automation technician, electromechanical technician, conveyor systems technician, industrial machinery mechanic, warehouse operations associate, industrial engineering technicians, maintenance technician, and industrial networks-related positions.
“There is a lot of hands-on work. It’s always a different day and you’re always learning new things,” says Paul Van Hulle, Associate Professor of Manufacturing Technology and Department Chair for the program at Norco.
Accounting for at least 15 percent of all wages in the Inland Empire, the logistics sector is the region’s largest single employer, comprising 16.4 percent of all payroll jobs in the area (Inland Empire Labor and Community Center, UC Riverside).
Job growth for industrial machinery mechanics in the region was expected to grow 13 percent between 2022 and 2027. Industrial engineering technologists and technicians should see a 17 percent increase. While growth for electromechanical technicians is expected to jump 10 percent (Lightcast 2023.3). The median average earnings for these jobs is $29.05 to $29.86 — well above the regional living wage standard of $21.82 (IELCC, UCR).
Major supply-chain and logistics employers in the region include Anheuser-Busch, Cushman & Wakefield, Target, Amazon, and FedEx. “Many of our students already work for Target and Amazon in their warehouses,” Van Hulle says.
While hands-on work in the warehouse is one side of the industry, employers also need people to plan and coordinate operations. Norco College has a program for that too, offering a degree and certificate in Logistics Management focused on planning, implementing, and controlling the flow and storage of goods, services, and related information. Logistics disciplines covered include warehousing, transportation, service contracting, purchasing, global logistics, and more.
Other colleges in the region with similar programs include Barstow Community College, offering programs in Warehousing and Logistics, and Chaffey College’s Supply Chain Management program.
With North America’s busiest container ports nearby, the Inland Empire/Desert region will continue to be a major hub for the distribution of goods.