For the past 10 years, Suniva has been a model for how to successfully commercialize high-tech university research. Originating in Georgia Tech's University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Research and Education, the innovative technology behind Suniva 's best-in-class solar cells have made it the largest solar cell manufacturer in America. Suniva's achievements have earned it a Georgia Manufacturer of the Year award, and its growing popularity has prompted the company to expand its Norcross facility, where it will nearly triple cell production from roughly 78,000 cells per day to 230,000 cells per day. "Suniva is an example of American manufacturing at its finest," said Steve Haro, then-U.S. Department of Commerce assistant secretary for legislative and intergovernmental affairs. "They produce industry leading products, right here in the United States, and their global leadership has made for the type of conditions that create clean energy jobs across our country. Suniva is an example of the strength and resilience of American modern manufacturing." Continued on page 6 Quick Notes "... we at Quick Start have steadily refined our methodology and developed a deep expertise in designing customized pre-employment assessment programs to help companies 2 assess their job candidates." A t Quick Start, we know that selecting the best-qualified candidates for a job i .L\.. one of the greatest challenges facing a new or expanding company. That per- son needs to have the right combination of persona l attributes and technica l skills to be successful. That's why we at Quick Start have steadily refined our methodology and developed a deep expertise in designing customized pre-employment assessment programs to help companies assess their job candidates . One of the recent projects to benefit from this expertise is our collaboration with Suniva. As you'll see, Quick Start's pre-employment assessment has helped the company identify exceptional talent to work in such a sophisticated, high-tech, advanced manufacturing environment. Suniva is one of the great success stories in Georgia, and Quick Start is proud to help the company shine even brighter. In this iss ue we're also pleased to update readers on two exciting, ongoing projects . First is the re-launch of Quick Start's website: www.georgiaquickstart.org. Long-time media veteran Richard Warner helped us with invaluable market research and design strategies, and now we're better able to share our success stories with a global audience. The second piece of news is the debut of the first artist's renderings of the new Georgia Advanced Manufacturing Training Center. This new center will be located at the intersection of Interstates 95 and 16 near Savannah. It will be a showcase of Georgia's commitment to advanced manufacturing, and a significant resource for industry thro ughout that region and all of Georgia. We're looking forward to a ribbon cutting in 2018, so stay tuned ! jackie Rohosky Assistant Commissioner Economic Development Programs j ro hosky@georgiaq uicksta rt.org Table of Contents 3 Events Around the State 4 Pedal to the Metal Textron and Quick Start team up again 8 The Big Chill Quick Start bundles up to deliver training for Nordic Logistics' cold storage operation 5 A Cut Above Quick Start helps Club Chef get off on the right foot 10 Performance Enhancing Quick Start helps the best get even better Cover photos - Top: Solar cells at Suniva are flipped during the production process to ensure a proper coating on both sides of the cell; Bottom: Scenes from Suniva's state-of-the-art nine-step manufacturing process for their PERC!Artisun-STAR Photovoltaic cells. This process produces PV cells with enhanced efficiency and performance, and helps Sun iva stay competitive as the market leader in solar cell manufacturing. Volume 19, umber 1 Published by Georgia Q uick Start www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org Q uick Start is a registered service mark of the Techn ical CoUege System of Georgia- Gretchen Corbin, Commissio ner. Please address comments and questions to: Dr. Rodger Brown, Executive Director of Marketing and Strategic Media rbrown@georgiaqu ickstart.org Georgia Q ui ck Start . 75 Fifth St. NW, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30308 Events KGTC Hosts Siemens Event Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal discusses the importance of a strong bond between companies, the state, and the community. SIEMENS In September, th e Kia Georgia Training Center in West Point, opera ted by Quick Start, was the site of an event staged by Siemens to announce a donation to the ca reer aca demy in LaGra nge in support of careers in manufacturing and engineering. Speakers included Governor Nathan Deal, the U.S. President of Siemens Digital Factory, Technical College System of Georgia (T CSG) deputy commissioner M att Arthur, then-Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD ) commissioner Chris Carr and other Siemens officials. In his comments, Deputy Commissioner Arthur said, " For us, this is all a bo ut partnership . It's all a bout communication with businesses. It's all a bout lea rning that we need to partner with industry to learn what we need to be teaching, to write the curriculum, get the right equipment in the rooms, and to train the future workforce." During the event, Gov. N a than Deal emphasized Georgia's commitment to further fostering public-pri va te-aca demic partnerships to train the workforce of the future. "We va lue the continued investments from Kia and Siemens in Georgia and we respect the vision of the companies' leadership," said Deal. "The strong relationships between the company, the community and the state are a mod el for the kind of partnerships we strive for, as we cultiva te the next generation workforce." From left: Matt Arthur, TCSG deputy commissioner ; Chris Carr, then-GDEcD commissioner; and john Billings, Vice President and Head of Siemens Automotive, Aerospace and Turnkey Solutions U.S., Digital Factory Division. New Center to Support Advanced Manufacturing For the past year, a team consisting of Qu ick Start, the Technical Coll ege System of Georgia , and th e architecture firm BRPH have been developing the plans for a new Georgi a Advanced Manufacturing Training Center, which is to be located near Savannah , Ga . The new Center will be equipped with state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing technology to support industry throu ghout the state . Th e Center will be operated by Georgi a Quick Start, and is expected to be compl eted in 2018 . Quick Start Redesigns Website- With sit e locators relyin g more and more on web research to do initia l evalu ations of potential sites for new bu sin esses, a clear, informative we bsite is a ba selin e requirem ent. To help better showcase Qui ck Start's capabilities and pa st successes, w e have rece ntly launched a new des ign for Quick Start's website. Ch eck it out at www.georgia qui ckstart.org. Advanced Manufacturing Pedal to the Metal Textron and Quick Start team up again T extron Specialized Vehicles, maker of golf cars, utility and personal transportation vehicles, professional turf-care equipment and ground support equipment has joined with Georgia Quick Start and Augusta Technical College to provide customized workforce training to support their announced expan- sion, which will create approximately 450 new jobs in the Augusta area. 4 This is not the first partnership among the three. The Bad Boy Stampede 900, one of the specialized vehicles made by Textron at their Augusta, Ga., facility. Textron and Quick Start have partnered before, with Quick Start supporting their initial hiring operations, and both parties have agreed to future training as lEX IRON Textron finalizes plans to bring its Jacobsen business to the Augusta area. ~~~~~~~SPECIALIZED VEHICLES "Textron is a great company that has chosen to in Augusta. Since then the company has shown clear z repeatedly invest in Georgia. We are honored to be able dedication to workforce development. As Textron 0 ~ to work with them to bring these high-quality jobs to Specialized Vehicles President and CEO Kevin Holleran V> the state," said Jackie Rohosky, Technical College recently said, "To continue that growth, we must have 2: System of Georgia assistant commissioner for economic a viable, well-educated and prepared workforce to be c 3 development programs and head of Quick Start. the engine behind our manufacturing." By the end of 0 >-' Textron has seen signifigant growth since 2011, the year, Textron expects to employ approximately z-~ when Textron employed approximately 600 people 1,200 people at the Augusta location. 0 Textron manufactures vehicles under brands such as E-Z-GO, Cushman, Bad Boy, Jacobsen, Ransomes, Dixie Chopper, TUGTM and DouglasTM. The partnership extends beyond just Quick Start. Augusta Technical College has been an essential collaborator, offering continued training to Textron. "Augusta Technical College and Textron have enjoyed a strong relationship for many years," said Terry Elam, Augusta Technical College president. "We are very pleased to support the company during this exciting time of major growth and expansion." From left: jan Melcher, Quick Start director of Eastern operations; Heather Meyer, Textron Specialized Vehicles Augusta plant manager; and Terry Elam , Augusta Technical College president pose for a picture at the recent training plan signing. Food Industry Operations A Cut Above Quick Start helps Club Chef get off on the right foot I f you like eating fresh, you like Castellini. The Castellini Group of Companies combine to form one of the largest distributors of fresh produce in the United States. For consumers in the Southeast, that comes in the form of Club Chef, which provides a huge variety of fresh-cut fruits, vegetables and salads to grocery stores and restau- rants all over the region. When the Castellini Group announced that Club Chef was opening a new processing and dis- Clockwise from above: Club Chef employee lap Chin checks the qua lity tribution facility in Conley, Ga ., it immediately turned to Quick Start to help them manage their startup. Training began at the beginning of 2016, and has been running steadily ever since. Quick Start puts Club Chef new Conveyors with cameras sort tomatoes and similar items by specific color, enabling client of tomatoes before they go through optical sorting; Club Chef employees secure packages of organic baby spinach for shipment to a client; baby spinach goes through the cleaning process on Club Chef's organic processing line. 5 hires through initial training, such companies to maintain a consistent made it really easy for us to get up as company overview and safety look to their produce. Club Chef and running and train our employ- awareness classes, and has provided also makes use of highly special- ees," said Pam Baskette, Club Chef the company with print resources ized lines that are capable of human resources manager at to ensure its team is working safely washing, processing, portioning, Castellini's facility in Conley, Ga. and efficiently. and packaging organic products "To any business that's thinking Club Chef also makes use of separately from other products. about moving to Georgia," she some of the most advanced tech- "Quick Start has made my job added, "Quick Start makes it easy nologies in the food industry. so easy, really from startup. They to get off on the right foot ." The Sun Also Energizes Continued from page 1 Am nca s Leadmg Solar Matt Card , Sun iva executive vice president of commercial operations, speaks during the recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Suniva expansion. With steadily increasing demand for clean energy, Suniva's monocrystalline solar cells have become top sellers in a market forecast to grow rapidly in the commg years. "We started with the belief that any global marketplace, but especially the global clean energy marketplace, needed a strong U.S. manufacturer," said Matt Card, Suniva executive vice president of commercial operation . "This is an intensely competitive industry with a lot of global competition, and what U.S. manufacturing has tradition all y done is lead the way with innovation, and set the standard with high quality and excellence around the world." Partnership with Quick Start From left: jackie Rohosky, Technical College System of Georgia assistant commissioner for economic development programs; Paul Schneider, Sun iva vice president of Norcross plant operations; and Dr. D. Glen Cannon, Gwinnett Technical College president pose while signing a training plan that outlines each group's role in supporting Sun iva's expansion . To support the expansion, Quick Start will once again be partnering with Suniva to offer customized workforce training. Quick Start first partnered with Suniva to assist in its startup in 2008. " I cannot say enough about the role that Georgia Quick Start has played in our success," lauded Card at the recent expansion ribbon cutting. "Quick Start has been alongside us every step of the way, and the resources they've provided, the Suniva employee and pilot group participant Kierra Saunders (at right) requests Quick Start assessor Margaret Slusher to verify her work identifying defects on a replica solar cell. Potential employees are asked to spot defects in solar cells in order to assess their attention to detail. Inset: Saunders works on completing the quality assessment. expertise and development knowledge to get us up and moving as a business, have been invaluable to us." Quick Start's training plan to support Suniva's most recent expansion starts with pre-employment exercises that assess candidates' ability to handle work on the Suniva floor. "Quick Start's pre-employment assessment training has been a real highlight of this expansion," said Paul Schneider, Suniva vice president of Norcross plant operations. "It has accelerated hiring and train- ing, and we've been very pleased with the IVa caliber of employees that have been hired through this process." From there, Quick Start will train new employees on Suniva's high-tech manufac- turing process. This training program is highly technical and touches on subjects like advanced manufacturing technologies, POC13 diffusion, laser etching and plasma- enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Holistic Approach to Training ....--- Beyond just teaching the employees the steps required to perform their job, Quick Start strives to help them understand the process and what is happening at a microscopic level. ~~f>. . . ~ Quick Start developed visual aids to use in assessing potential Sun iva employees. "The level of technical ability and understanding at Quick Start is unparalleled," said Schneider. "Quick Start made an animation video of what happens inside our machines that employees who have been working here for years couldn't visualize. But now we have a video that shows them what is really happening in that machine. That's world class." The next step in the training includes soft skills and collaboration. Employees will go through workshops designed to promote teamwork and fo ter the company's unique culture, as well as help employees understand how their actions on the manufacturing line help influence the company's bottom line. "The soft skills training starts where we are, enhances our skills, and takes us to the next level, so we are really excited about that part of the training," said Schneider. "That's why we have such good people; because we invest the time and energy into training them and making them productive, effective employees." Distribution Center/Warehousing Industry Quick Start bundles up to deliver training for Nordic logistics' cold storage operation W ith access to two major highways and the fastest growing port in the United States, Savannah is quickly becoming one of the most important cargo hu bs in the co untry. Cold storage is an integral part of the Savannah distribution landscape, with fresh produce and agricultural prod ucts making up a sizable chunk of the business. ordic Logistics, one of the country's leaders in this field, has seen this growth first hand. The company has doubled its Pooler, Ga., location from 200,000 square feet to 400,000 quare feet, and has recently announced plans to add an additional 400,000 square feet in the next five years. And Georgia Quick Start's customized workforce training has been one of the big factors in that success. ordic's training started with training in continuous improvement and productivity enhancement, including topics ranging from AGR