01 Talent supply required
To retain 100 technicians, here’s how many people each pipeline needs to start.
164
Talent Factory
starts
starts
vs
1,040
Traditional pipeline
starts
starts
Talent Factory
Stop competing for talent.
Stop competing for talent.
Own the supply.
Arklight builds Talent Factories, a technician supply you own and control, developed to your standard in a fraction of the traditional time.
Explore a Talent Factory pilotThe bottleneck in American defense manufacturing right now isn’t capital. It’s talent. Full stop.
Scale production.
Build the talent to match.
Your production plans shouldn't have to wait for the labor market. Build the skilled workforce your operation needs, at the pace and scale your ambitions demand.
The talent supply equation
What does the traditional pipeline cost you?
Your numbers
Technicians / yr
$
USD / yr
Aerospace technician median wage, BLS, May 2024.
02 Money saved from unneeded cost
$2,572,000
Training cost avoided to field the same technicians.
03 Production revenue unlocked
$25,279,500
Value of reaching the job 38 months sooner.
Model assumptions
| Assumption | Traditional (National Average Index) | Talent Factory (targets) |
|---|---|---|
| Training cost per entrant ($)Public 2-year in-district tuition, College Board | ||
| Completion rate (%)National completion rate, community colleges | ||
| Share reaching competency (%)Certificate holders employed in the occupation, Georgetown CEW | ||
| First-year retention (%)National retention rate, community colleges | ||
| Months to independent productivityFirst day of training until they work without a mentor. Community colleges, 3.4 years enrolled. | ||
| Production constraint realization (%)100% means full potential. Use less if other constraints limit output. | ||
| Fixed annual Talent Factory setup cost ($) | Not modeled | |
How the numbers are calculated
- Yield = completion × competency × first-year retention.
- Starts = target ÷ yield, rounded up.
- Training operating cost savings = traditional entrant cost × traditional starts − (Talent Factory entrant cost × Talent Factory starts + fixed setup).
- Production revenue capacity brought forward = annual production revenue supported per technician × target × positive difference in months to independence ÷ 12 × production-constraint realization percentage.
What this does not claim
- This simplified scenario is not a revenue forecast or a claim of incremental contract value.
- It does not model cohort phasing, partial productivity, working capital, or revenue recognition.
- It assumes demand exists for the indicated output.
- Traditional defaults are national averages, with the source under each traditional number. Talent Factory figures are Arklight targets, not established results.
- Replace either side with your own data before making decisions. Accounting classification of training expenditure can differ by company.
- This model excludes incremental supervision, recruiting, vacancies, and other indirect costs.
Want this on your real numbers?
Get a custom workforce analysis built around your roles, capacity constraints, and operating costs.
Your workforce. Your standards. Your future.
Who decides
Traditional pipeline
Talent Factory
Who gets selected
Traditional pipeline
The school decides.
Talent Factory
You
The competency standard
Traditional pipeline
The program decides.
Talent Factory
You
How people are assessed
Traditional pipeline
The school decides.
Talent Factory
You
How much it produces
Traditional pipeline
Enrollment decides.
Talent Factory
You
Fixing it when it misses
Traditional pipeline
You find out after you hire.
Talent Factory
You
Make workforce supply something you can build.
Turn your production requirements into a repeatable system for developing skilled workers. Built around your standards and designed to scale with your workforce needs.
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Your requirements. Your standards. Your workforce advantage.
Our Commitment
You define success. We deliver against it.
Your standards determine what qualified means. Our outcome-based model ties compensation to demonstrated competency, aligning our incentives with the workforce you’re building.
Explore a Talent Factory pilot