February 2023 QT APP101.01 Graduates

www.georgiamountainsworks.com                                                                                          Posted February 18, 2023

Quality Tech APP101 – 1^st Cohort Graduates

1^st Cohort in a 2 Year USDOL Apprenticeship from 4 MFG Sector Employers representing 3 counties
in the Georgia Mountains Sector that each had a mentor, 4 mentors, now have 4 Graduates

On February 2, 2023, the first 4 graduated at USDOL Registered Quality Control Technicians:

• Cristy Norris, Murray Plastics – Gainesville GA
• Shaprelle Gunnells, IMS Gear – Gainesville GA
• Bee Yang, Tsubaki-Nakashima – Cumming GA
• Gaspar Pedro Gomez, Freudenberg NOK – Cleveland, GA

Each apprentice participated in 300 hours of instruction at Lanier Technical College. Each apprentice had a mentor at their company to walk through 4,000 hours of structured on-the-job training. Some of the competencies included QI Macros, Machine Tool Math, Continuous Improvement (5 Why, Flowchart, FMEA), Measurement (Calipers, CMM, GageRR), QC Techniques (Ppk-Cpk, SPC), Lean, and Safety.

Learning and applying is valuable and being able to communicate what you’ve learned with customers, fellow employees and upper management in a report or persuasive way is even more valuable. When the Georgia Mountains MFG Sector Employers designed the apprenticeship, they wisely included employability and communication skills in addition to QC specifics. The two-years culminated at graduation with the presentation of their capstone using the tools they learned and applied to a company-specific project and presented to company and college leadership.

ROI – some of the return-on-investment stories heard include:

• two promotions
• data informed equipment investment to increase efficiency
• customer complaint effectively resolved
• fellow employee engagement in quality systems

Congrats Graduates, Mentors, Employers, Region 2 Georgia Mountains Works MFG Sector Workforce Development Strategy, Workforce Strategies Group LLC, and Lanier Technical College!

The 2^nd Quality Tech APP101 Cohort started in 2022. The 3^rd Cohort starts March 22, 2023, at Lanier Technical College and the class is full. The next graduation story is less than a year away.

#youaskedwedelivered

WorkSource Georgia Mountains, under the Georgia Mountains Regional Commission,
administers the federal WIOA funds which encourages sector strategies and partnerships. 
Workforce Strategies Group LLC manages the MFG Sector Strategy, Georgia Mountains Works.

Shelley Logan, Partner, Workforce Strategies Group LLC, shelley@workforcestrategiesgroup.com, 678-316-0792