Helen Fessenden for the Richmond Fed:

Dale Phillips, a night-shift maintenance supervisor at BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, S.C., is busy balancing a full-time job with online coursework to complete a bachelor’s degree in management. He oversees a team of equipment-services associates in the plant’s paint shop, whose duties include preventing equipment breakdowns in the conveyors, lifts, pumps, and industrial robots. He says he never envisioned such a career until four years ago, when he started at the plant as an apprentice after spending most of his 20s and 30s as a grocery store manager.

“When I was 17 or 18, I was frustrated about what I was going to do after high school,” explains Phillips. “I didn’t have any guidance and didn’t know how you prepare yourself for a good job. You just took whatever work you could find. But now I’m in a high-tech job, working as a supervisor. This is something I never even thought of.”

Phillips is a graduate of the BMW Scholars program, an initiative that the company began in 2011 to secure a steady pipeline of high-skilled workers for its South Carolina operation. Modeled after European apprenticeships, it now trains about 35 workers a year in a partnership with local community colleges.