Techniques Nov-Dec 2012 - 22

Business and Industry Partnerships

lum. Knowing up front what employers need and want creates tighter back-end integration that improves the entire learning process. Deeper immersion in companies helps the instructors develop longlasting relationships that strengthen their ability to help students match their skills with specific jobs after they complete their certifications. And it helps students retain their jobs after placement. Sustainable job placement at Autry Technology is one of the highest in the state, at 94 percent.

Great Plains Technology Center and Goodyear
Successful companies grow despite difficult economic conditions. Finding the right employees and continuing their professional development is one necessary strategy for most companies. At a minimum, adopting strong hiring practices and employee-development programs that

streamline business processes, improve information flow and make it easier for employees to do their jobs results in more revenue and greater profits. That is the goal of Great Plains Technology Center’s (GPTC) partnership with Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The GPTC/Goodyear partnership was set up to train multicrafted industrialmaintenance technicians who are competent in five critical areas: electrical/electronics, welding, fluid power, mechanical systems and safety. A secondary goal is to foster teamwork among the incumbent workers and standardization within the company. This full-time, blended training program offers 1,384 hours of small group instruction, 200 hours of in-plant, on-thejob training, 14 separate courses for 35 hours of college credit, two-to-three-day skill seminars for the incumbent maintenance technicians and online learning

opportunities for prerequisite learning and assessments. The program began in 1979 as a self-paced training for new hires. Having trained more than 500 maintenance technicians for Goodyear, the program continues today with the addition of curriculum support for a Goodyear facility in Dalian, China. The GPTC/Goodyear Maintenance Training Program is tailored to meet the needs of the customer and has become the model for Goodyear training programs nationally and internationally. Goodyear-Lawton Plant Manager Brent Copeland says, “Our model of success is a private-public partnership developed over the 35-year history of the Goodyear-Lawton tire manufacturing facility. Key to the success is cooperation between Goodyear and GPTC. GPTC has shed the constraints of traditional

Techniques

November/December 2012

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Techniques Nov-Dec 2012

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