Electrical wiring, gear drive maintenance and drill press operation are some of the hands-on skills required to work in the always changing manufacturing world.

And these are all skills that can be learned over the Internet. The WAEM Alliance, which brings together eight community and junior colleges from Mississippi and Alabama, will operate the training system.

"These four community colleges in Mississippi and four in Alabama, and the Montgomery Institute here in Meridian, are recognizing that the way we've had a big surge in job growth in Mississippi the last couple of years that pretty soon our biggest problem is going to be that we don't have enough skilled labor for the new jobs," said Gov. Haley Barbour.

The system, which is being described as anytime, anywhere training is being purchased from Amatrol, a company based out of Indiana.

Nearly 500 interactive manufacturing modules are currently available. Officials say this type of virtual training puts west Alabama and east Mississippi on the cutting edge of technology.

"We are competing globally and to compete globally, you can't think locally," said Bill Johnson of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, representing Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. "That's what this is about. We've got our states in joint partnership."

The WAEM Alliance was formed through the WIRED initiative and will use $4 million in investments to help support the training system. Gov. Barbour says that using the power of two states will help both succeed in the future.

"Alabama supported Mississippi on the Toyota plant. We supported them on the KC-30, the new refueling airplane for the Air Force," said Barbour. "What we are trying to do now is see if we can have a project, or some projects, where they're both in Alabama and Mississippi where we can share the project."

Because the training is available online and can be done at a person's own pace, there is virtually no limit to the number of workers that can be trained in a year.