Wiregrass Interim President DeAnnia Clements, Wiregrass student, and MANA apprentice Stone Statham, and MANA Plant Manager Allen Galbraith. Standing: Wiregrass Industrial Systems Technology Instructor Phillip Taylor, Dean for Academic Affairs - Technical and Industrial Michael Williams, and Wiregrass Executive Director of Departmental Affairs and Apprenticeship Nicole West.
Fitzgerald, GA – Through the Wiregrass Georgia Technical College Apprenticeship Program, MANA Nutrition has hired Industrial System Technology student Stone Statham. Stone is a United States Department of Labor (USDOL) registered Industrial Maintenance Apprentice and a student in Wiregrass’ Industrial Systems Technology program.
Wiregrass is proud to have partnerships with 17 employers who employ active student apprentices/program completers. Currently, the college has 33 active student apprentices/program completers, with five having recently completed the apprenticeship program. This program has proven to benefit businesses and industries in recruiting, training, and retaining highly skilled workers. Partnering with the college in hiring students through the apprenticeship program has also shown a reduction in turnover costs, a higher productivity rate, and a more diverse workforce.
“At MANA we recognize that the workforce for the manufacturing sector is changing rapidly. For us to remain competitive in our market we must embrace these changes or we will fall behind,” shared Harry Broughton, MANA Nutrition Director of Operations. “Specifically, there are fewer and fewer low and medium-skilled jobs. Automation is changing our industry. Therefore we must attract a labor force to support increasing layers of automation. This is when we reached out to Wiregrass to learn what we could do to attack the issue. We shared the issue with the staff at Wiregrass and began to learn about their apprentice program. I am proud to say Wiregrass did a great job identifying a candidate and we now have him on our team. We intend to expand the program as we grow.”
If your business would like to learn more about the apprenticeship program, please contact Nicole West. She can be reached at nicole.west@wiregrass.edu, or by calling 229-333-2100 ext. 4837. Wiregrass is currently accepting new students for Fall Express; classes start September 27. To apply, visit any campus or apply online at Wiregrass.edu.
