2024 Noncredit Exemplary Award Winner
NONCREDIT WORKFORCE PROGRAM
Arkansas Tech University – Ozark Campus, AR
ATU and Green Bay Packaging Technical Training Center
Arkansas Tech University-Ozark Campus and Green Bay Packaging Arkansas Kraft Division have been in partnership for over 10 years, offering non-credit electrical and mechanical training to employers across the State of Arkansas. ATU-Ozark, located in Ozark, AR and Green Bay Packaging AKD in Morrilton, AR, are separated by 73 miles of interstate but have a public-private partnership on a Technical Training Center not seen in any other part of the state.
The Training Center is located in Morrilton, AR, separate from Green Bay Packaging’s mill. In 2008, Green Bay Packaging had the same issue many other U.S. manufacturers were having, in they could not find enough maintenance technicians with the mechanical and electrical aptitudes to fill vital maintenance roles. Green Bay Packaging had the idea to grow their own and start a Technical Training Center off-site, away from the mill so employees could concentrate on being trained, and not called back to the mill for emergencies. At the time, Green Bay Packaging approached the State of Arkansas, including the Department of Workforce Services and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, for funding options on starting a training center. The State agreed but asked Green Bay Packaging to partner with a higher education partner, which is where ATU-Ozark comes in.
In the beginning stages of the Technical Training Center in 2008-2009, ATU-Ozark and Green Bay Packaging re-fitted the building with new training equipment, sourced publishers for training materials, setup curriculum, and setup a structure of how to train employees from a wide array of manufacturers.
What was implemented was several different offerings of 5-week classes on electrical and mechanical topics, where outside companies would come for training one day a week for five weeks. Green Bay Packaging uses the other three days to train its own employees through a more concentrated, three-year journeyman program. ATU-Ozark recruits the outside companies, handles registrations, develops curriculum, orders instructional material, markets the Technical Training Center, and serves as the sole higher educational partner in the training. Green Bay Packaging owns most of the equipment and building and uses two of its most skilled employees to teach the class.
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