Media Center
July 21, 2010
Ahlstrom Establishes Largest Apprenticeship Program
Ahlstrom Nonwovens Establishes Kershaw County's
Largest Apprenticeship Program
Bethune, S.C., July - Apprenticeship Carolina™, a division of the SC Technical College System, is pleased to announce that Ahlstrom Nonwovens, LLC is sponsoring a federally-recognized apprenticeship program for quality control technicians and production technicians. With over 50 apprentices enrolled, Ahlstrom's program represents the largest in Kershaw county. Consisting of on-the job training as well as extensive job related education via classroom and on-the-job learning with subject matter experts, training will include both technical and employability/support skills.
"Due to becoming a leaner manufacturing environment, Ahlstrom made a cultural shift from production technician to technical operators. We want to build the employee skill level so they can operate, troubleshoot and make minor repairs to the production lines," said Cindy Clark, workflow efficiency manager for Ahlstrom Nonwovens in Bethune. "This requires building our employee skill base to include mechanical maintenance skills, quality testing, root cause analysis and troubleshooting along with operational skills. Through our apprenticeship programs, we will have a workforce with multi dimensional skills to assure quality, increase throughput and uptime and decrease waste."
"The apprenticeship programs we've established help us to achieve our business goals while building our internal workforce," said Bill Bunn, plant manager. "We are growing our people at the same time as we create an environment of continuous improvement focused on quality and productivity. It's a real win-win."
An apprenticeship is a time-tested method of employee career development that combines supervised on-the-job learning and job-related education. A program "registered" with the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) shows an employer's visible commitment to developing a high-quality workforce that meets nationally recognized training standards. Registered apprenticeship programs also enable employees to receive incremental wage increases as they demonstrate new competencies throughout the training program. Ahlstrom Nonwovens' apprenticeship programs are both two years in length. The company is also exploring other apprenticeship opportunities that would leverage Central Carolina Technical College's training resources.
"Ahlstrom's apprenticeship program is another example of the company's innovative approach to its workforce development. By redesigning its training program to include the apprenticeship component, Ahlstrom will be able to recruit and retain a higher skilled workforce that will meet its future business needs. I congratulate both Ahlstrom and Apprenticeship Carolina™ on joining forces to make this program a reality." said Nelson Lindsay, Kershaw County Economic Development Office
"Apprenticeship is being recognized across South Carolina as an extremely effective workforce development tool. Since 2007, Apprenticeship Carolina™ has grown the number of registered programs in the state by 199% and the number of apprentices by 228%," said Ann Marie Stieritz, director of Apprenticeship Carolina™. "Apprenticeship Carolina™ and the SC Technical College System are dedicated to working with our partners, across the state to meet the workforce competitiveness needs of South Carolina."
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