The first class at Ivy Tech Community College to better prepare area residents for jobs in the manufacturing world has completed its first week of training.
Manufacturing Matters is funded through $312,000 in scholarships by Duke Energy with Ivy Tech statewide where the program is offered. Locally, Ivy Tech is providing the training at its Richmond Campus. WorkOne took care of the application process to find the first class members.
There are 14 students in the first class, said Becky Moore, director of Ivy Tech Corporate College Richmond. Of the 14, 12 are currently unemployed and two work nights so they finish work and come to the training for the start of class at 8:30 a.m. Monday-Friday. Two are from Connersville and one from Laurel, the rest are Wayne County residents.
“The first week is safety,” Moore said. “They have four hours a day with an hour of lecture and three hours working through the actual training online. WorkOne comes in on Thursdays to work on employability skills such as resume writing.”
Because Indiana is the number one state per capita for manufacturing, it is important to have potential employees trained in advanced manufacturing skills which are required by industry today, said Cathy Wenning of Duke Energy last month.
The four areas of focus – safety, manufacturing process, maintenance awareness and quality – are the areas consistently in demand within all types of manufacturing, Corporate College Executive Director Kim Thurlow said last month. Both appeared locally on “Connersville Speaks.”
The program grew out of a request by manufacturers in the Lafayette Ivy Tech Region in 2014 and has spread to other regions with the start of sessions last week.
At the end of the program, after a review, they will take the four different certification tests in the final week of programming.
The program ends Jan. 10, 2014 but there is a week off at Thanksgiving and two weeks at Christmas and New Year’s, Moore said.
Additional sessions will be conducted. To receive information about Manufacturing Matters and an application, contact WorkOne in Connersville at 765-825-8581, or stop in at 704 Eastern Ave.
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