Technical College System of Georgia
Back to Work
Quick Start prepares for hands-on training in a hands-off world
Quick Notes
New Training for the New Normal
Who would have ever thought that "PPE" would become part of everyday conversation?
Over the years, we've all had to adapt to one "new normal" after another. It's
always a challenge, but that's our job. The key is to stay focused on the fundamentals.
For Quick Start, those fundamentals mean staying flexible and responsive in order to
the needs of business and industry.
Of course, some new normals are more challenging than others. In the wake of
a global pandemic, we will be responding to a broad scope of changes with new,
`Today, we need to
innovative solutions. In this issue, we review some of Quick Start's skills and experience we can leverage to address the challenges ahead.
www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org
rely now more
The most obvious, of course, relate to biomanufacturing of therapeutics,
than ever on
pharmaceuticals, and other health-related supplies. Takeda has already begun producing a plasma-derived therapy targeting COVID-19. Quick Start has supported
innovative training the operation from the beginning, and will continue to provide valuable assistance
strategies and
through our Georgia BioScience Training Center. We can also anticipate new safety standards from OSHA, and we're continuing
quality materials.
to adapt our safety training accordingly. Quick Start has been collaborating with Kia
... Quick Start has
Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG) to develop Alternative Protective Methods (APM), which are pioneering new standards for lockout/tagout on automated
the talent and
equipment that can't be totally shut down.
experience to
Today, we need to rely now more than ever on innovative training strategies and
quality materials. As you'll see, Quick Start has the talent and experience to continue
2
continue delivering delivering the most effective and efficient customized workforce training in the U.S.
the most effective
Now, let's get back to work.
and efficient customized
Jackie Rohosky
Deputy Commissioner
workforce training
jrohosky@georgiaquickstart.org
in the U.S.'
Quick Start News g 2020
Table of Contents
3 Training Activity Around the State
4 CoVIg-19 Alliance Industry alliance develops innovative treatment that will be produced at Takeda's Georgia facility
7 New Safety Measures New tech means new ways to stay safe
10
10 Hot Stuff Quick Start helps Rinnai heat up its startup making tankless water heaters
8 The Art of Science Quick Start's media and creative
12 Quick Start partners pitch in Pratt & Whitney Columbus, Kia Motors
4
services deliver content-rich
Manufacturing Georgia and Nivel
training materials
rework production lines to help out
Published by Georgia Quick Start 2003062020 www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org Quick Start is a registered service mark of the Technical College System of Georgia -- Greg Dozier, 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
Training Activity
Way to Go!
Wayfair Inc. -- one of the largest and
most successful online-only retailers of
home goods -- has experienced a surprising
jump in sales in recent months due to the
ongoing pandemic.
Fortunately, the company can meet that
demand in part because Georgia Quick Start
has been hard at
work delivering
customized train-
www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org
ing for employees
at Wayfair's huge
distribution center
in Port Wentworth,
just outside Savan-
nah, Ga. The facility is Wayfair's second expansion in the area, and will be
Wayfair employees receive training at Quick Start's Advanced Manufacturing Training Center using social distancing (above), temperature checks (left) and use of facial masks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
hiring up to 1,000 new employees.
Quick Start's training support for
means that Wayfair's customers
Recently, Wayfair employees took part
Wayfair is able to continue due to strict can continue to receive full service,
in Quick Start training at the new Georgia
adherence to all the
while the company's
Advanced Manufacturing Training Center. Since announcing its expansion in 2018,
health and safety protocols required
employees receive
3
comprehensive
Wayfair has created approximately 500 jobs. during these challenging times. This
training in a safe, secure environment.
Quick Start News g 2020
Quick Start training for Chick-fil-A Supply followed safety procedures for social distancing, temperature screening, and face masks, which didn't stop new team members from connecting with and encouraging one another.
Supplying Demand
In March, Chick-fil-A
Supply completed
construction on its first
state-of-the-art distribu-
tion center in Cartersville,
Ga., which is designed to
serve up to 300 Chick-fil-A
restaurants at full scale.
Quick Start's training for
Chick-fil-A Supply focused
on select processes and pro-
cedures that allow the company to support restaurants'
Quick Start partnered with current Chick-fil-A Supply drivers to understand best practices and procedures on which to train upcoming onboarding classes.
distribution needs, while also extending the Chick-fil-A culture of care to
those it serves.
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Quick Start News g 2020
Takeda, with a plant in Georgia, is a world leader in manufacturing plasma products at commercial scale.
CoVIg-19 Alliance 4
Industry alliance develops innovative
treatment that will be produced at
Takeda's Georgia facility
It was springtime. As the days grew longer, so did the list of lives lost in the worst pandemic in more than 100 years. Something had to be done.
As the death toll from COVID-19 continued to rise, a handful of biotech companies set aside the usual competition for market share and combined forces to develop and manufacture a treatment for the hardest-hit victims of the virus.
In mid-April, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Ltd. announced the formation of a part-
nership among the world's leading companies that produced products derived from blood plasma. The CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance is focused on developing a treatment based on concentrations of antibodies taken from plasma donors who have recovered from the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
It's a bold move. But, as Julie Kim, president of Takeda's PlasmaDerived Therapies Business Unit, said in a company press release, "Unprecedented times call for bold moves." Kim added, "We collectively agree that by collaborating and bringing industry resources together, we could accelerate bringing a potential therapy to market as well
as increase the potential supply." Georgia will play a key role in
this initiative. Takeda is currently producing CoVIg-19 for clinical trials at Takeda's manufacturing facility in Covington, Ga. As the lead training
"An exciting milestone for the Alliance, officially initiating production of an investigational hyperimmune globulin for COVID-19. Thank you to donors and manufacturing teams in Georgia."
-- CARLOS SOTO, VICE PRESIDENT & COVINGTON SITE LEADER,TAKEDA
partner for the Covington facility since it started operations, Georgia Quick Start will be assisting Takeda with its workforce training needs.
The treatment is based on the use ALLIANCE, continued on page 6
Quick Start is training manufacturing technicians to work at Takeda's Covington plant.
Feature
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Quick Start News g 2020
Takeda's Covington plant is producing the new COVID-19 treatment.
From bench lab to bedside
IT'S ONE THING to develop a therapeutic product, but to gener-
Georgia BioScience Training Center
ate one for each individual is a real
challenge. Personalized medicine
is coming soon and will offer a
variety of opportunities in the bio-
5
medical field.
The Georgia BioScience
Training Center is preparing for
the training requirements of
companies producing cell-based
therapies. The training labs inside "[Quick Start has] deep experience training a company's
the Georgia BioScience Training Center include production-scale biomanufacturing equipment that
workforce in the automated, biomanufacturing processes'"
-- JACKIE ROHOSKY, TCSG DEPUTY COMMISSIONER AND HEAD OF QUICK START
allows Quick Start to provide essential training for technicians and smooth out the road between
the researcher's bench lab and the patient's bedside.
The Center is such a
valuable asset because the
increasing use of cell-
based products is part of a
"paradigm shift in modern
medicine," according to the
authors of a recent paper
published in the Annual
Review of Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering.
Many products are already
easily manufactured using
byproducts of human
cells. The difference is that
BENCH, continued on
page 6
The Georgia BioScience Training Center trains employees in the automated, bioscience processes.
Training labs at the Center include production-scale biomanufacturing equipment.
Feature
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Quick Start News g 2020
What's With All The Names?
It can be confusing. First it was "the coronavirus." Then it was COVID-19. But the virus' real name is SARS-CoV-2. What gives? Here's a little clarification:
l Virus From the Latin "virus,"
meaning "poison, slimy liquid, a
6
potent juice." Current meaning:
submicroscopic non-cellular
structure that requires a living host
to replicate.
ALLIANCE, cont'd from page 4 of "hyperimmune globulins," which, in layman's terms, refers to the plasma proteins taken from donors who have developed antibodies
Above: Takeda's new COVID-19 treatment includes the use of plasma proteins. Left: The Georgia BioScience Training Center is within walking distance of Takeda's Covington facility.
"They are doing it right here," said Philip Gibson, director of Georgia BioScience Training Center which is operated by Georgia Quick Start and located within walking distance of Takeda's facility. "Quick Start is training manufacturing technicians to work at Takeda's Covington plant, where Takeda is
l Coronavirus A family of viruses
to fight off any particular viral
currently producing CoVIg-19 for
Coronaviridae that have spiky
infection.
clinical trials."
projections on their surface similar
to a crown (Latin "corona"). These protein spikes connect with surface proteins of another cell enabling the virus to gain access, turning it into a factory to make more copies of the virus.
l COVID-19 "Coronavirus disease of 2019." COVID-19. Name given by the World Health Organization to the disease cause by the virus SARS-CoV-2.
BENCH, cont'd from page 5 now the finished products include human cells themselves. The authors write that the potential for using cells as therapeutics "can be realized only if suitable manufacturing technologies for large-scale, cost-effective repro-
When it comes to new and innovative processes which require customized training solu-
tions, Georgia Quick Start has been there done that.
"We have deep experience training a company's workforce in the automated,
l SARS-CoV-2 Current official
ducible production of
biomanufacturing
name of the new corona virus.
high-quality cells can
processes," said Jackie
It's related to SARS-CoV, which was
be developed."
Rohosky, TCSG deputy
identified in 2003, but is different,
And that's just part
commissioner and head
hence the "2."
of the supply chain.
of Quick Start. "From
l International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses It decides on the final classification and name for any virus.
The authors pose the The BioScience Training Center receiving and process-
final question: "[O]nce is run by Quick Start.
ing, to filling, packing
we have the final product, how can and shipping of the final product,
it be packaged/stored/transported we can train employees with the
to the facility in which it will be
skills to deliver quality performance
delivered to the patient?"
every step of the way."
Feature
Team members are trained on the use of new safety equipment installed for the robot training cell at the Kia Training Center. (Inset) The light curtain, one of several pieces of safety devices installed to meet Kia Alternative Protective Measures, is backed up by a safety scanner in the work cell as a second level of protection.
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Quick Start News g 2020
New Safety Measures
New tech means new ways to stay safe
When OSHA asked Kia Motors partnered with Quick Start and
Manufacturing Georgia
invested in excess of $100,000 to
real time data to make their own
7
(KMMG) to share its best practices update the Kia Georgia Training
guided decisions.
in safety standards related to the
Center safety control devices on
Quick Start uses virtual intuitive
servicing of automated equipment, equipment initially designed for
learning tools, running on mobile
Kia turned to Quick Start.
teaching robotics.
devices, allowing trainees to be
When KMMG turned to
Kia team members attending
more hands-on. That enriches the
Quick Start, Quick Start's advanced the training include those from
learning experience, ensuring train-
manufacturing team turned to
plant safety, plant engineering
ees develop the skills to implement
creative and interactive learning
and maintenance.
the new safety methods on the job.
techniques and mapped out new,
"We are teaching best practices,"
The result is a leading-edge
innovative solutions.
says Stan Q. Mitchell, maintenance program where employees can
The challenge was this:
training coordinator at Quick Start. determine: an improper APM safety
Frequently, maintenance personnel
The plan includes sharing
system; if a design is safe when
and machine operators are chal-
this training with local KMMG
verifying the integration of
lenged to fully isolate machinery
suppliers as well.
new machines or safety
and lockout access when power
"Production uptime is
devices within an APM
must remain ON to perform minor important to
guarded work cell;
service and machine adjustment
business
whether it is safe when
tasks inside an automated work
success and
working on an APM
cell. The Kia request was to design a safety is
guarded work cell; and
program that would share their best critical to every-
whether integration of
practices when implementing new one," says Vic
new machines or safety
safety designs, verifying a newly
Desmarais, direc-
devices have been
integrated automation system, and tor of Advanced Manufacturing
completed correctly.
safety procedures to follow when Technology Training at Quick Start.
Quick Start plans to
entering an Alternative Protective
Quick Start designed interactive
adapt the training and
Measures (APM) controlled work tools using custom designed soft-
take it statewide
cell. To develop training for these ware that allows trainees to access
to assist other
alternative safety practices, Kia
procedural information and insert
employers.
Kia trainees learn on a MIG welding robot.
Feature
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Quick Start News g 2020
THE ART OF
Science
Quick Start employees recreate a lab environment for Dendreon Corp. in a fully equipped studio located in Quick Start's Atlanta office.
8 Quick Start's media and creative services deliver content-rich training materials
Have you found yourself watching TV commercials and seeing crowds on the street, crowded bars, packed stores, roaring stadiums filled with fans, and thinking: that's so 2019.
The pandemic has taken a tragic toll for hundreds of thousands, but its impact is also reaching into the minutiae of everyday life, causing wrenching changes in areas nobody expected.
For instance, imagine if you will, you're training as a new employee and watching videos showing group meetings, company rallies, team-building exercises and nobody's wearing a mask. For a company, training in a classroom built for 30 becomes twice as costly because you're now training 15 at a time due to social distancing requirements. The raucous, crowded breakroom becomes a much quieter place. Applicants at a startup's job fair get disqualified if they show up without appropriate PPE.
The scenarios are endless. But Quick Start, with decades of experience with startups and expansions, can easily modify training capabilities to support the re-startups, helping accelerate the restoration of the supply chain, getting Georgia back to work.
Gowned workers display social distancing while training in a lab setting (above), while employees are trained to work in an isolater at the Georgia BioScience Training Center.
www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org
EVxidameopleprCoadsue cSttiuodny 1:
Feature
WHEN A SERIOUSLY ILL PATIENT $70 million facility in Union City, ment. So Dendreon sent all the
is waiting for treatment, shutting Ga., to make Provenge, a therapeu- equipment needed to demonstrate
down production in order to make tic product for advanced prostate the process to Quick Start, where
a movie isn't the best idea.
cancer, Quick Start's video team
Dendreon's manufacturing experts
That's why, when Dendreon
didn't go to the company's New
assembled it into a simulation of
Corp. was starting up its
Jersey operation to shoot training the real thing: safety cabinet, cen-
videos. Instead, the company
trifuge, autoclave, and more.
brought the factory to
Quick Start was able to do
Quick Start.
this because its office in Midtown
Dendreon's process involved Atlanta is built out with a state-of-
taking a patient's blood,
the-art video production studio.
adding powerful antigens to
Quick Start's video team produces
boost the patient's immune
a wide range of training-related
system, and then infusing the videos ranging from task-based
cancer-fighting compound
instruction, to process overviews,
back into the patient. Each
company orientations, and more.
batch was customized for each
For Dendreon, Quick Start's
patient. There was no margin video production capabilities
for error.
addressed a vital need.
To capture the proper
At the time of Dendreon's
techniques for carrying out startup, a company manufacturing
the process, bringing video specialist assisting with the shoot,
equipment into the plant
said, "A video like this has been on
9
Quick Start training at
ictasninp-hrooduusecephroigdhu-cqtuioanlitsytuvdidioe.o
jeopardized the safety and quality our list for years. This has been, I of the potentially life-saving treat- would say, a dream come true."
gIEnuxtaiedmreapscletiCvaespeaSrttuicdyip2a:nt
Quick Start News g 2020
IN 2012, GEORGIA LANDED IT'S LARGEST biomanufacturing
project in decades. Baxter Inc. chose a location 45 minutes east
of Atlanta to invest more than $1 billion in a plasma fraction-
ation plant to make therapeutics for conditions like hemophilia
and immune deficiency. Eventually, the facility was acquired by
Takeda, which operates the biomanufacturing plant today.
Along the way, Quick Start developed dozens of interactive
training modules covering the fundamentals of bioscience,
biotechnology and biomanufacturing. The modules were made
available to trainees online through secure connections that
allowed progress checks to be collected in a back-end database.
The training modules incorporated video, audio, photog-
raphy, animation and interactive programming, all developed
in-house at Georgia Quick Start. "It was a challenging undertaking," says Philip Gibson,
director of the Quick Start-operated Georgia BioScience Training Center. "But we pulled it off without a hitch, and now
mtQrauoiidncukinleSgsta.writthcaintsamlsaondyecvuesltoopmsiezceudretroaninliinneg
we have this tremendous resource for training in biotechnology."
Feature
Hot Stuff Quick Start helps Rinnai heat up its startup making tankless water heaters
www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org
10
Rinnai America manufactures tankless water heaters at its temporary facility in Griffin, Ga. Quick Start
has provided training for all its employees since production began in 2018.
Quick Start News g 2020
When Rinnai Global's Japanese as it flows through the unit, brazers saw the skill level of providing what amounts to a
their American counterparts, they were surprised. Thanks to Quick
ceaseless flow of hot water as well as cost savings.
Quick Start-trained employees were sent to Japan, where they
Start training, Rinnai's American
"Every one of our employees
the water heater.
workforce
gets 96 hours of
At the end of Quick Start train-
easily exceeded
Quick Start training ing, new hires understand how to
expectations.
before they build a build the entire water heater, not
Japan-based
single unit," says Bob just the one assembly area they will
Rinnai, which man-
Potts, plant manager be assigned, giving Rinnai flexibility
ufactures tankless
for Rinnai America for cross-training. "We want all of
water heaters for
in Griffin.
our employees to know every aspect
both the commer-
Quick Start also of assembly," he says, "and with
cial and residential
provided customized Quick Start, they do."
markets, has a
assembly training
Another aspect of the Quick
temporary manu-
on the tankless units, Start training was brazing training.
facturing facility
which allows new
Brazing differs from welding in that
in Griffin, with
employees
plans to begin construction of a permanent facility
A completed tankless water heater at the Rinnai manufacturing facility in Griffin.
to assemble and disassemble the
"... because of ... Quick Start training, we stopped training and
at a nearby greenfield at Lakes of Rinnai units. The trainees Green Valley later this year. Tankless learn to identify the names
actually worked on live production."
water heaters differ from traditional and functions of the
-- BOB POTTS, PLANT MANAGER
water heaters by heating the water major subassemblies of
FOR RINNAI AMERICA
Feature
Below: Quick Start has several training modules at the Rinnai America plant in Griffin.
www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org
11
Quick Start News g 2020
impressed their Japanese counterparts with their brazing skills.
it does not involve melting the work pieces at high temperatures. Potts was impressed with Quick Start's training on brazing techniques.
"Each employee gets 16 hours of brazing training," Potts explains. A select few employees got the initial brazing training then went to Japan for a week of visionary training. "Brazing is recognized [at Rinnai's
Japan facilities] as the most critical element of our production. In Japan they only allow a few people to braze."
But Quick Start's training meant
the first team of Rinnai America
workers were
brazing in the
Japanese plant
within a week, he
says. The Japanese A Quick Start instructor oversees trainees at Rinnai.
brazers thought the American
training was going to focus on
counterparts would take two weeks work skills, and we did that... but
to be further trained in brazing
Quick Start's soft skills training is
skills, Potts says. But because of
what's helping people be most suc-
"the experience they had with
cessful to integrate into our team,"
Quick Start training, [the American Potts says.
team] stopped training and actually
Rinnai America opened its
worked on live production."
Griffin plant June 20, 2018 on time
Not only are
and under budget
Rinnai employees
thanks to the train-
learning hands-on
ing from Quick
skills, Quick Start
Start, he says. On
is also providing "soft skills," such the first days of production, Rinnai
as communication training and
expected to produce 35 units, but
conflict resolution.
produced 73 because of the Quick
"I really thought most of the
Start training, he adds.
75 Fifth Street NW, Suite 400 Atlanta, GA 30308-1022
Quick Start partners pitch in
AT LEAST THREE OF QUICK START'S PARTNER COMPANIES have risen to the occasion and begun producing personal protective equipment at their plants around Georgia to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG) in West Point, Ga., Pratt & Whitney Columbus, and Nivel Parts & Manufacturing's plant in Cairo, Ga., have all made needed medical supplies for hospitals in Georgia and elsewhere.
Pratt & Whitney Columbus manufactured and shipped headband and chin pieces for use in over 25,000 face shields provided to medical workers by Raytheon Technologies. With a recent delivery of a 3D printer, the Pratt & Whitney Columbus team installed, loaded and began shipping 3D parts in early April.
KMMG transformed a portion of its U.S. plant into a specialty production area and has delivered a supply of more than 50,000 medical use face shields to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
Nivel Parts & Manufacturing, North America's largest independent provider of golf car aftermarket parts and accessories, took delivery of donated fabric at its Cairo operations, and in partnership with Grady County EMA, made more than 1,000 face masks for the local community and area hospitals, including Tift Regional Medical Center in Tifton, Ga.