Quick Start, volume 20, number 2

Technical College System of Georgia Volume 20, Number 2
Unique Challenges, Customized Solutions
Quick Start uses creative innovations to help companies solve unexpected problems
See page 6

Quick Notes

Quick Start's brand proposition

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

`Quick Start has proved to be a "deciding factor" when companies make the decision to create jobs in Georgia ... We're proud to be part of the team that has

The survival of any brand name product or service depends on one essential: fulfill your brand promise. Georgia Quick Start has promised comprehensive, customized workforce training to qualified companies for decades, and for decades we have fulfilled that promise, earning the No. 1 ranking in surveys of site location professionals. We have also proved to be a "deciding factor" when companies make the decision to create jobs in Georgia rather than at a competing location. We're proud to be part of the team that has made Georgia the "Best State for Doing Business."
In this issue, we highlight one classic example of how Quick Start distinguishes itself from other programs that claim to offer customized training. Two of our mantras are "flexible" and "responsive." If a company has a unique challenge, we have a unique solution. Our team at the Athens Training Center recently surprised one client company, Dixie Specialty Fibers, with a custom-made training simulator that mirrors the processes of its high-tech production equipment. Our team went above and beyond, working nights and weekends, fabricating components and adapting devices that would let trainees practice the work procedures required by the newly installed technology.
When working with manufacturing companies, you never know what will come next, and we have to be ready to respond with creative solutions. Our team in Athens demonstrated this capability and fulfilled Quick Start's brand promise.
As site professionals around the world agree, it doesn't get any better than that.

2 made Georgia the "Best State for Doing Business."'

Jackie Rohosky
Deputy Commissioner
jrohosky@georgiaquickstart.org

Quick Start News g Volume 20, No. 2

Table of Contents

3 Events Around the State

5 Quick Start FY2019 The fiscal year in review

14

6 Unique Challenges,

12 Bull Market Taurus International adds two

8

Customized Solutions

production lines at Georgia plant

Creative innovations help companies solve

unexpected problems

14 Making the Grade

12

8 Steering Committee

Quick Start hosts the State's top manufacturers to recognize the

Assisting Mando America in meeting its

best of the best

training needs as production grows and grows
10 Opening Move Bringing Check-Mate Industries and the

16 A Decade of Excellence Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia's celebrates its

city of Thomasville together for success

10th Anniversary

Volume 20, Number 2 Published by Georgia Quick Start www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org Quick Start is a registered service mark of the Technical College System of Georgia -- Matt Arthur, Commissioner. Please address comments and questions to: Dr. Rodger Brown, Executive Director of Marketing and Strategic Media rbrown@georgiaquickstart.org Georgia Quick Start 75 Fifth St. NW, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30308

Quick Start welcomes Governor to newest training facility

Events

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Above: The newly opened Georgia Quick Start Advanced Manufacturing Training Center in Pooler, Ga. Left: Gov. Brian Kemp (center) and First Lady Marty Kemp (right) inspect robotic training equipment during the governor's tour of the new training center.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp toured

Georgia Quick Start's newest training

center.

Kemp toured the Advanced Manu-

facturing Training Center in Pooler, Ga.,

with other state of cials in July and said

the facility continues to give potential

manufacturers added reasons to choose

to come to Georgia.

3

Companies can see that the train-

ing center is capable of training future

employees and the site offers great

logistics, as well, he said.

The training center is operated by

Quick Start, a division of the Technical

College System of Georgia. It is equipped

for a variety of training, including control systems, networked wireless systems, and automation and robotics.

From left: Matt Arthur, Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) commissioner, Jan Melcher, executive director, Georgia Quick Start Advanced Manufacturing Center, Gov. Brian Kemp and Dr. Rodger Brown, Quick Start executive director of Marketing and Strategic Media, tour the new Advanced Manufacturing Training Center.

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

Spinning Solutions
Dixie Specialty Fiber's opening was a labor of love, says Lee Starks, president of the Trion manufacturing company.
The project, which began in September 2017, came to fruition with the training plan signing Oct. 15 and special help from Georgia Quick Start.
Quick Start's Athens Training Center team created a trainer for the company. That added bene t was not lost on Starks.
"Georgia Quick Start sent people to Germany very early in the process to see what we would need," he says. "What we have here is unique to us."
Stark went on to describe the machinery, which has godets that spin clockwise and counterclockwise to draw bers into yarn, as "the space shuttle" of equipment. "Now I have a way to train the astronauts," he said of the custom-made trainer.

The ribbon cutting at Dixie Specialty Fiber on October 15, 2019 (above) marks the opening of its Trion manufacturing location; and (left to right at right) Quick Start's Northern Operations Director Bruce Batton; Dixie Specialty Fiber's President Lee Starks; and Heidi Popham, president of Georgia Northwestern Technical College.

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

FY2019 Annual Report

Operating Results for

As the reigning #1 workforce development program in the nation for 10 years in a row, Georgia Quick

FY2019

Start, part of the Technical College System of Georgia, is

Georgia's primary discretionary incentive for job creation

and retention. Since its origin 52 years ago, Quick Start

has trained 1,315,845 Georgians through 7,110 projects,

and it has continued to build a reputation of successful partnerships and thriving businesses in FY2019.

53% 48%

New

Existing

81%81% of Quick Start FY2019 projects supported Georgia's manufacturing operations -- the foundation of our economy.

Quick Start delivered 64

customized workforce training

4

programs to companies creating

Investments From

or retaining jobs in Georgia.

Around the Globe

Quick Start's free, customized workforce training attracts new business and investment from all over the globe. In FY2019, Quick Start delivered 41% of its

38% 62% Metro Atlanta

Trainees

Trainees

Were Outside

Metro Atlanta

62% of projects were located outside Metro Atlanta, representing 69% of FY2019 trainees.

projects to companies of interna-

tional origin. These companies

came from 11 different countries

11 countries in 26 projects.

Belgium

Brazil

Canada

Germany

India

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

Ireland

Israel

26 projects Italy

Japan South Korea United Kingdom

FY2019 Annual Report

Top State for Business
For Six Years in a Row!
For an unprecedented sixth year in a row, Georgia has been named the Top State for Business. This achievement is based on survey results from leading site consultants who rank states across 12 different categories such as cost of doing business, workforce development and regulatory environment.

#1 Workforce training program in the nation Georgia Quick Start
#1 Industrial engineering program in the nation
1 Million+ new college grads each year*
5.1 Million+ labor force
Most women and minority engineering grads in the U.S.
Free tuition for high demand technical career programs
*250-mile radius of Atlanta

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

5
SURVEYS,
1010 ! WINS Site location pros pick Quick Start as #1 in tenth of ten surveys by Area Development magazine.

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Feature

Unique Challenges, Customized Solutions
Quick Start uses creative innovations to help companies solve unexpected problems

Dixie Specialty Fibers was facing a challenge.

godets. Employees can't use their ngers. They must use wire guides,

The Trion, Ga.-based company which can be a daunting challenge

was opening a new plant to spin

as the godets spin clockwise and

plastic pellets into yarn. But, while counterclockwise to help draw the

6

its new, sophisticated equipment was being installed, the new

employees had few options for

bers into yarn. Dixie Specialty Fibers' texturizing
machine is "a very long and com-

A station of Dixie Fibers' texturizing machine, friction units are at the top and godets are at the bottom.

training on the techniques that

plex looking machine," Morrison

muscle memory of the process."

would be required once the

said. "Each one of those systems

That kind of training station

machinery was activated.

has 216 positions and one or two can't just be bought off the shelf.

Enter Quick Start.

people must walk from station to

For about a month, Morrison

John Morrison, training

station to follow the yarn path.

and Eubanks spent evenings and

manager at Quick Start's Athens

It is a daunting process to show

weekends adapting automotive

Training Center, and Andy Eubanks someone how to do this. One of

components, lockout/tagout devices,

conceived and designed a hands-on the things we thought is if we could and welding equipment to create

simulator that would allow trainees build a trainer that would replicate the simulator.

to practice the complex process of what they were doing, they could

"We built the frame out of metal

looping thin bers onto whirling

practice this process and get some and adapted parts," Eubanks said.

At left: Georgia Quick Start's custom built yarn-texturizing trainer helps new employees learn to thread the godets at Dixie Specialty Fibers.
At right from left to right: The trainer replicates the action of the godets and friction units on the texturizing machine, allowing the process to be sped up and slowed down in order to master the skills before moving on to operate the banks of texturizing machine modules.

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

TRAINER GODETS

GODETS ON PRODUCTION LIN

Feature

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

A single operator works a number of the texturizing machine modules in a long bank simultaneously, requiring a great deal of skill and dexterity,

7

making on-the-job training very challenging.

He even machined some parts

Godet [goh-day] noun
A roller for guiding

to speed up or slow down the spinning

and used

synthetic laments

godets so

compressed air and welding tips

during drawing.

trainees can become pro cient

to create a vacuum

with the basics and

system that simulates

then increase the speed

the suction that helps thread

to simulate the actual produc-

the yarn through the godet stations. tion equipment.

They even added the capability

Dixie's Plant Facilitator Johnny

Gentry was surprised and delighted. "I didn't know Quick Start was making something this elaborate for us, but it will be tremendously helpful. We can bring new hires in and they can come do the training at their own speed. This will save us time and money, because we won't have to take a trained operator off the line and reduce production to help train new hires."

NE

TRAINER FRICTION UNITS

FRICTION UNITS ON PRODUCTION LINE

Feature

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

Mando America employee assembles steering columns at its Hogansville facility.

Mando produces driver-assist features that have not been available on larger trucks until now.

Steering Committee
8 Georgia Quick Start continues to help Mando America meet its training needs as its production grows and grows

Longtime client Mando America, a South Korean auto parts manufacturer, rst became a partner with Georgia Quick Start in 2012.
But as Mando has grown and added production lines, it has turned again and again to Quick Start to ensure a ready workforce.
Mando, which makes steering and brake systems, built its operations in Hogansville, in rural Meriwether County, in an area where jobs came primarily from the service industry, says Suk-Jong Song, Georgia plant manager. At the time Mando was getting started, the company needed

to bridge the gap of what was required in a workforce and what was available.
Enter Quick Start, which is part of the Technical College System of Georgia.
When Mando started its relationship with Quick Start, it was to get the plant staffed. Seven years ago, the work was basic, Song says. Now that the unemployment rate is low, Mando has found it more dif cult to nd quali ed employees since the employment pool is smaller. The skill level is more basic, but

Mando's systems have become more complex. "Quick Start is very important for us," he says. "It supports us."
In fact, Mando's newer steering column production lines include making driver-assist features that have not been available on larger trucks until now. Mando developed a steering torque overlay system to work with steering assist units it produces in a rst-to-market product and is a big-demand product for the company.
Mando has 427 team members today and continues to hire,
working closely with

Mando's steering torque overlay is a rst-to-market product and in high demand.

Feature
"The decision to come to Georgia and Meriwether County was a combined effort of city, county and state tax incentives and Quick Start. ... One single item that (made the decision to expand in Georgia), would be the addition of Quick Start to the package."
-- SUK-JONG SONG, GEORGIA PLANT MANAGER,
MANDO AMERICA
9
Quick Start, West Georgia Tech and local high schools.
Quick Start has also been involved in Mando's leadership development, providing training such as con ict resolution and organizational skills. That allows Mando to promote from within.
Quick Start was an essential part of why Mando chose Georgia for its expansion. It will also be a big part of Mando as it continues to grow, Song says.
"Our dual STO [steering torque overlay] line is just starting," he adds. By next spring the new line will begin and "we need Quick Start."

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Feature
Opening Move
Georgia Quick Start helps Check-Mate Industries and the city of Thomasville come together for success

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

10

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

Clockwise from top: Check-Mate CEO and owner Regina Vieweg cuts the ribbon marking the of cial opening of the new headquarters in Thomasville; samples of machined items made for the U.S. military; a centerpiece at Check-Mate's grand opening; and the entrance to the manufacturing area showcasing the company's motto.

Check-Mate Industries Inc. celebrated its grand opening in Thomasville in August, and company of cials say they are ready to build an empire in Georgia.
New York-based Check-Mate, which makes rearm magazines, medical tooling, aerospace and automotive products, expects to add 230 jobs and invest $16 million in its new location.
"This is a tremendous milestone for Check-Mate and the city of Thomasville," said Joe DeBello, president and chief operating of cer of the company,

at the grand opening celebration. "Thomasville is a community that values business and hard work. It's a great day for us all and a great leap into the future."
"Forty-seven years ago, founder

Tom Vieweg borrowed $250 and started Check-Mate Industries," said Jackie Santoro, the company's director of legal affairs and business development, and Vieweg's daughter.
"We're a story of growth," she told the crowd of wellwishers. In 2012 the company expanded in New York and then began looking to other locations to grow.
The celebration drew Gov. Brian Kemp, who noted how hard he has worked for opportunities for rural Georgians.
From left: Shelley Zorn, Thomasville Payroll Development Authority executive director; Joe DeBello, Check-Mate president and chief operating of cer; Check-Mate CEO and owner Regina Vieweg; Gov. Brian Kemp; and Jackie Santoro, Check-Mate's director of legal affairs and business development

Left: Gov. Brian Kemp takes a selfie with a Scout at Check-Mate's grand opening celebration; below: Check-Mate's newly-opened facility in Thomasville.

"This is a tremendous milestone for Check-Mate and the city of Thomasville ... a community that values business and hard work. It's a great day for us all and a great leap into
the future."
-- JOE DEBELLO, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF THE COMPANY
"Georgia's manufacturing industry is built to compete with anyone in the world," he said. "This investment will create greater opportunities for residents down here."
But opportunities like Check-Mate's expansion could not happen without a skilled workforce and the world-renowned workforce training program like Georgia Quick Start, Kemp said. "Check-Mate will take advantage of our No. 1 workforce program, Quick Start. Quick Start sets our state apart and is an asset in our economic development toolbox."
Both DeBello and Santoro said Quick Start's training programs, which began in July on site at the plant, were a huge part of their decision to select Georgia and Thomasville for the company's expansion.

1
Quick Start, which is part of the Technical College System of Georgia, is providing hands-on assembly training that replicates the actual assembly of the gun magazine using all appropriate company tooling in partnership with the company and Southern Regional Technical College.
"The resources and training [Quick Start] brought to the table reduced the fear and doubt in staffing, which was a big concern," Santoro added. "We are a family and a team and honored to start a new chapter in Georgia."

Feature

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Bull Market
Taurus International adds two production lines at
Georgia plant

12
Heritage Rough Rider Revolvers

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

Taurus International Inc. is moving into its new manufacturing facility in Bainbridge and its workforce will be ready to begin production on day one, thanks to Quick Start.
Taurus, which manufactures two types of rearms, is moving its North American headquarters and production to South Georgia from Miami. As the facility was being completed, future employees recently were trained by Quick Start on eight assembly workstations at Southern Regional Technical College's Bainbridge campus.
"Georgia is way

ahead when it comes to this kind of training," said Gayan Kodikara, senior manufacturing engineer with Taurus, who built the eight assembly training workstations. Quick Start's help with the training means "we can go live quicker. And we can
see who has the aptitude and dexterity and see where employees are more comfortable on individual stations."
Taurus assembles a Taurus TX22 semi-automatic pistol on its newest production line. Employees are tasked

with assembling the weapon in under 50 seconds. Taurus also assembles the Heritage Rough Rider Revolver. "That line can produce a revolver every 25 seconds," he said.
Taurus is expected to create 300 jobs and invest more than $22.5 million in infrastructure and operations as it establishes its plant in Bainbridge. Taurus is building a new 200,000-square-foot facility.
"Quick Start's training included orientation and safety, as well as hands-on assembly that duplicates the manufacturing process at Taurus," said Susan Williams of Quick Start.
Being able to use Quick Start

Left: Employees are able to produce a nished revolver every 25 seconds.

Feature

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

13
Above and at left: Taurus International's Bainbridge facility will hand-assemble both pistols and revolvers.
"...once the training started, I was pleasantly surprised. For the company, it means the world. ... with Quick Start's training, we can stand back. We certainly see the true value of what Quick Start is providing here."
-- JOEL DUQUE, LEAN SPECIALIST WITH TAURUS

"is huge because with the transition of moving, [ nding and training employees] presents a ton of action items that are challenging," said Joel Duque, Lean specialist with Taurus. "With someone available to assist with the training aspect, it's a burden that is lifted." Duque said Taurus has certain ways it likes to train its employees and he was skeptical of Quick

Start's abilities. "I was actually expecting less,
but once the training started, I was pleasantly surprised," he said. "For the company, it means the world. There would have been a delay in starting production. But with Quick Start's training, we can stand back. We certainly see the true value of what Quick Start is
providing here."

Feature
Making the Grade
Georgia Quick Start hosts the State's top manufacturers to recognize the best of the best

Gov. Brian Kemp speaks to attendees at the 2019 MAW Award luncheon

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

Matt Arthur (left), Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) commissioner, and TCSG Deputy Commissioner Jackie Rohosky (right).

The 12 winning pieces of artwork from the 2019 MAW Student Design Contest selected from thousands of entries.

Earlier this year, Gov. Brian

audience of more than 1,200

14

Kemp named three of Georgia's business and industry leaders

leading companies as the 2019

attending the celebration

Manufacturers of the Year, the 25th at the Georgia

anniversary of the annual event.

International

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

P&G in Albany, Ga., won in the

Convention Center

category of 500 or more employees; in College Park,

Briggs & Stratton Corporation in Ga.

Statesboro, Ga., won in the category

"I want to

of 150-500 employees; and Dublin, thank not only

Ga.-based Erdrich USA Inc. won

these three

in the category of 150 or fewer

winning man-

employees.

ufacturing

"These three companies repre- companies, but

sent the best Georgia has to offer

the employees

for manufacturing in the state,

who do the good

providing great jobs and being great work at those

community leaders," Gov. Kemp

companies," Kemp

said in his keynote address to the

added. "They are the

"These three compa Georgia has t the state
bein

Small Manufacturer

Erdrich's success in Georgia includes the support of partners "such as Georgia Quick Start, which helped train 150 employees."
-- Friedrich Renoth, chief operating of cer and plant manager, Erdrich USA Inc.

Medium Manufacturer

Feature

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

anies represent the best to offer for manufacturing in e, providing great jobs and

College System of Georgia and

from three grade levels submit work

Amy Carter, Deputy Commissioner to the contest, and four winners are 15 for Rural Georgia Initiatives at the picked from each category: K 5th

Georgia Department of Economic grade; 6th 8th grade; and 9th

Development.

12th grade.

Quick Start News Volume 20, No. 2

ng great community leaders."
-- GOV. BRIAN KEMP

This is the 25th year celebrating Manufacturing Appreciation Week, sponsored by Aprio,

2019 Sponsors

GaMEP (Georgia Manufacturing

Extension Partnership), a part

reason Georgia has led of Georgia Tech's Enterprise

the nation, for the past Innovation Institute, Georgia Power

six years running, as the and the Georgia Association of

best state in the U.S. for Manufacturers.

doing business."

The event also included the pre-

The event

sentation of scholarship awards to

was co-hosted by

the 12 winning entries in the state-

Commissioner Matt

wide MAW Student Design Contest.

Arthur of the Technical Thousands of students each year

"Quick Start has always helped us with training plans to ensure we have the skills needed to make engines."

Large Manufacturer

-- James Suchovsky, Statesboro plant manager, Briggs & Stratton Corporation

With new Charmin and Bounty production lines at P&G's Albany plant, Quick Start training "is a tremendous resource for the
manufacturers of Georgia."
-- Werhner Washington, plant manager, P&G Albany

75 Fifth Street NW, Suite 400 Atlanta, GA 30308-1022

This Kia Telluride is Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia's (KMMG's) 3 millionth vehicle to be manufactured in its West Point, Ga., location.

Top: Gov. Brian Kemp arrives to the event by helicopter. Above: Kemp (center) greeted by Euisun Chung (left), executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group and Jangsoo (Jason) Shin (right), president and CEO of KMMG.

A Decade of Excellence

Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG)

celebrated its 10th anniversary of vehicle

production in West Point, Ga., Nov. 18.

The facility was the company's rst manufac-

turing hub to open in North America and has so far helped create more than 15,000 local jobs and produced more than 3 million vehicles.

Euisun Chung, executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group awards Gov. Brian Kemp in recognition of support of KMMG.

Those helping to celebrate the milestone included Gov. Brian Kemp, and Euisun

Chung, executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, who was president of Kia Motors

Corporation when it made the decision to locate in Georgia.

Chung emphasized the impact of TCSG and

the role Quick Start played in the training and

development of KMMG's workforce during its rst

decade, stressing Quick Start's innovative approach

to training over 3,000 employees.

Far left: U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) and Euisun Chung, executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group. Left, from left to right: Kwangoh (Kevin) Kim, vice president of KMMG, Georgia Quick Start Deputy Commissioner Jackie Rohosky, Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Matt Arthur and Jangsoo (Jason) Shin, president and CEO of KMMG.