Quick start [Vol. 8, no. 2 (Spring 2006)]

Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education

SPRING 2006 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2

Manufacturing Advances

Quick Start creates innovative training for innovative industry

"Either we automate, or the jobs go to Mexico," says Melvin Skipper, looking out over a plant floor where orange and blue machines are whipping around oven-heated auto parts, controlled by an unseen hand. Skipper is the engineering manager at TI Automotive in Cartersville. His company has long recognized the importance of implementing advanced manufacturing technologies

and processes in order to stay competitive in the global marketplace. By the end of the year, TI Automotive plans to have more than 15 robots producing parts for the automotive industry.
"It's really all about improving efficiency," he says.
As more manufacturing companies come to rely on advanced manufacturing technologies such as robotics and computer-integrated processes,

Above: State-of-the-art robotic equipment ready for work at TI Automotive's Lavonia facility. Inset: A screen shot of Quick Start's simulated palletizing robot.

QUICK START IS GEORGIA'S PREMIER SOURCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

"It's really all about improving efficiency."
Melvin Skipper, TI Automotive Engineering Manager
the need for workforce training in those areas has also increased. At TI Automotive, for example, three engineering experts used to be the only staff members trained to operate the robotic equipment there.
Today, after Quick Start delivered its new program in robotics training, it's a different story. When equipment
Continued on page 6

Quick Notes

About this issue: Advanced Manufacturing

`With the DTAE and Quick Start, Georgia right now has the advantage for attracting new business.'
Jeff Rosensweig, Associate Professor
of Finance and Director, Global Perspectives Program, Goizueta Business School, Emory University

At the 2005 Manufacturers of the Year awards luncheon, DTAE Commissioner Mike Vollmer "put a stake in the ground" for manufacturing in Georgia. He pledged to make the Governor's Center of Innovation for Manufacturing Excellence a reality. In keeping with our agency's philosophy of "fulfilling our commitments," that pledge was kept, and in this issue of the Quick Start newsletter, we highlight the grand opening celebration which was attended by more than 500 community, business and political leaders (see facing page).
The new center at Lanier Technical College isn't the only initiative that our agency is taking to help Georgia's manufacturers stay competitive in the global economy. As our cover story explains, Quick Start has been developing new training in advanced manufacturing technologies that will not only help businesses stay competitive, but also help Georgia's citizens acquire the skills they need to compete.
"If people are not trained in the U.S. with highly competitive, technical skills, they will have a hard time surviving in the changing economy," said Jeff Rosensweig, an economist at Emory University, and author of numerous books on globalization. "That's why it's so important for Georgia to remain number one in workforce development."
Jeff regularly speaks to groups across the country, and in a recent conversation he noted that Georgia's workforce training -- in particular the DTAE -- has become the model for many other states.
"I've been at conferences where people benchmark against Quick Start," he said. "But they're saying what we already know, which is that with the Department of Technical and Adult Education and programs like Quick Start, Georgia right now has the advantage for attracting new business."

Jackie Rohosky
Assistant Commissioner Economic Development Programs jrohosky@georgiaquickstart.org

Jeff Rosensweig, Goizueta Business School, Emory University, discusses
the importance of workforce training in a global economy
with QS News.

Table of Contents

3 9

Events Around the State

8 Best Supporting Factor Quick Start training turns support staff into stars

9 Phone Home Hamilton Relay helps make the connection

10 In a Glass by Itself Increased demand drives expansion at Saint-Gobain's Sparta facility
12 Quick Start Project Announcements

Spring 2006 Volume 8, Number 2 Published by Georgia Quick Start www.georgiaquickstart.org Quick Start is a registered service mark of the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education Michael F. Vollmer, Commissioner. Address comments and questions to: Rodger Brown, Director of Communications rbrown@georgiaquickstart.org GA Quick Start 75 Fifth St. NW, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30308

2

QUICK START SPRING 2006

Events

Above, from left: Posing in front of a sculpture commemorating the opening of the center are Debra Lyons; Craig Lesser, commissioner of the Department of Economic Development; Mike Vollmer, DTAE commissioner; Gov. Sonny Perdue; Mike Moye, president of Lanier Technical College; and Lonice Barrett, director of implementation for the Commission for a New Georgia.
Preserving Jobs in Jesup -- Great
Southern Wood Preserving, makers of YellaWood brand pressure-treated lumber, recently opened a new facility in Wayne County that will provide approximately 120 jobs for Georgians in the area. Below, from left: Jan Melcher, Quick Start director of eastern operations; Bill Freeman, Great Southern Wood Preserving general manager; and Dr. Paul Scott, Altamaha Technical College president, sign an agreement for Quick Start and Altamaha Tech to provide training for the company's employees.

Center of Innovation
for Manufacturing
Excellence Debuts
A "new model" for building Georgia's prosperity was unveiled Feb. 3 when Gov. Sonny Perdue declared the Center of Innovation for Manufacturing Excellence at Lanier Technical College open for business.
"This Center of Innovation is a new model, dedicated to working hand-in-hand with Georgia manufacturers to deliver results," the governor said to more than 500 business, political and community leaders attending the grand opening at the facility in Oakwood, Ga.
"For Georgia to become a state of innovation, we must make innovation our competitive advantage in every sector of the economy," Perdue added. "This center represents the best thinking, the best planning and the best strategy for guaranteeing that Georgia's workforce is prepared for the 21st century manufacturing environment," said Mike Vollmer, commissioner of the Department of Technical and Adult Education. "The center is a resource for manufacturers throughout Georgia," said Russ Vandiver, vice president of economic development at Lanier Tech. "Our technical colleges are now able to offer their customers training in advanced manufacturing technologies as part of their overall training package."

Land of Milk and Honey (and Butter)

Continuing a family tradition of quality

and good stewardship isn't enough for

Moultrie's Ricky Sparkman. Along with

sons Matthew, Ryan and Dustin, he is

expanding the Colquitt County dairy his

father opened in 1967. For the first time in

its almost 40-year history, Sparkman Dairy

plans to make hormone-free dairy products

available directly to the consumer.

Initially, Sparkman Dairy will add

18 positions to

help create

"Sparkman's

Cream Valley,"

a line of prod-

Quality since 1967 No artificial hormones...naturally.

ucts produced

From left: Dr. Tina Anderson, Moultrie Technical College president; Ricky Sparkman, Sparkman Dairy president; and Robert Lytle, Quick Start training coordinator, sign a training agreement on the Moultrie Tech campus.
from its all-Jersey herd. Quick Start and Moultrie Technical College will work with Sparkman to train these new employees.
"I really appreciate Quick Start working with us and helping us make this next step," said Ricky Sparkman at recent training plan signing ceremonies. "It's certainly going to make it easier for us to get started."
3

Events

Injection Perfection

If the vending machine you used this morning gave you what

you wanted, odds are you can thank Thomson Plastics.

The Thomson, Ga.-based company recently expanded opera-

tions, opening a facility in Sandersville that produces more than

100 different injection-molded parts for vending machines. To train

employees for the 60 new jobs in Washington County, the company

is continuing its long relationship with Quick Start.

"We've been with Quick Start since day one -- actually before,

since they were with us before we began operations 11 years ago,"

said Jerry Harrison, president of Thomson Plastics. "We believe in

Quick Start and the technical colleges that support it -- they've had a lot to do with our success."
Ben J. Tarbutton Jr., member of

Back row, from left: Ben J. Tarbutton Jr., DTAE State Board member and vice president of Sandersville Railroad Company; Tommy Palmer, Thomson Plastics plant manager, Sandersville; Eddie Fite, Quick Start training manager; and Leigh Evans, Sandersville Technical College

the DTAE State Board and vice president of Sandersville Railroad Company, attended the ceremony

vice president of economic development. Front row, from left: Jan Melcher, Quick Start director of eastern operations; Jerry Harrison, Thomson Plastics president; and Dr. Lloyd Horadan, Sandersville Technical College president.

and said, "I'm very pleased to have

Thomson Plastics in Sandersville. Lloyd

From left: Thomson Plastics President Jerry Harrison shows DTAE State Board member Ben J. Tarbutton Jr. a soft-drink machine part made in the company's

Horadan, the new president of Sandersville Technical College, will lead us, and Quick Start will be an important part of the train-

Sandersville facility.

ing program."

Continued Care -- Just over a year ago,
UniCare Life and Health Insurance Company opened a managed Medicaid operations center in Savannah, and Quick Start helped train the company's customer-care associates. Recently, UniCare, a subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks, celebrated the first anniversary of its Savannah operation, and presented Quick Start with a certificate of appreciation for its contribution to the operation's success. Pictured, Deborah Hall, Quick Start training coordinator, and Doug Rodgers, director of UniCare's State Sponsored Business Operations Center.
SM

Glass Totally Full
Saint-Gobain Desjonqueres recently announced it will be expanding and adding 92 jobs to its facility in Hancock County. There, bottles made at the company's sister plant in Covington are decorated for high-end cosmetic companies (see feature story, p. 10). Saint-Gobain recently signed a training plan agreement with Quick Start and Sandersville Technical College to provide skills training for the new employees. "Quick Start has been a tremendous help," said Jean Christophe Duchamp, vice president of manufacturing for Saint-Gobain. "We could not have achieved what we have without your support." "Three years ago, Quick Start helped the company get started," said Jan Melcher, Quick Start's director of eastern operations. "Today, we're continuing to help them grow."

An employee at Saint-Gobain's Sparta facility performs a
detailed quality inspection of decorated perfume bottles.

4

QUICK START SPRING 2006

Office Furniture Company Is Top-Drawer

One of the top-10 manufacturing facilities on the continent is becoming even more productive this year, with help from Georgia Quick Start.
From left: Craig McDaniel, Coosa Valley Technical College president; Todd Murphy HON VP and general manager; and Jackie Rohosky, Quick Start assistant commissioner of economic development programs.
The Cedartown facility of office furniture manufacturer The HON Company was ranked one of the 10 best in North America for 2005 by IndustryWeek magazine. Quick Start and Coosa Valley Technical College

have partnered with the company on three previous training projects and recently signed an agreement to
take on a fourth -- a $1.6 million expansion to add a fourth laminate production line, creating 24 jobs.
"This project is one of many we've undertaken with assistance from Quick Start and Coosa Valley Technical College," said Todd Murphy, VP and general manager at the plant, which has won many other accolades, including Georgia's prestigious Oglethorpe Award. "I can't overemphasize how big a help that partnership has been -- especially being able to have training conducted on our site. It has really helped our growth." Craig McDaniel, president of Coosa Valley Tech, praised the company during the signing ceremony.

Above, left: A HON member (which is what the company terms employees) works in the awardwinning Cedartown facility. Above: Vertical file cabinets and drawers dance their way down from the paint line, cooling as they descend.
"If every manufacturing plant operated like HON and every state agency operated like Quick Start, we wouldn't have any issues in economic development."

Making It Stick
Executives from Orafol USA Inc., the first company to build a plant in Bryan County's Interstate Business Center, signed a training agreement recently with Quick Start and Savannah Technical College. The training for the company, which is based in the former East German city of Oranienburg, will include such topics as precision measurement, safety, and quality testing, as well as job-specific skills required to manufacture the company's pressure-sensitive, self-adhesive film products.
"The Quick Start team traveled to Germany, learned a complex, technical process and developed exceptional materials for training our new employees," said Peter Merz, Orafol USA Inc.'s vice president of operations. "It was gorgeous work."
Top photo: Local officials from Bryan County pose for a group shot at the recent training agreement signing in the new Orafol facility in Savannah. Seated, from left, are Jackie Rohosky, Quick Start assistant commissioner of economic development programs; Peter Merz, Orafol USA Inc. vice president of operations; Christian Hersacher, Orafol USA Inc. manufacturing operations; and Dr. C.B. Rathburn, Savannah Technical College president. Bottom photo: The team that traveled to Germany to develop the Orafol training materials. From left: Joe Bailey, Quick Start director of western operations; Jan Melcher, Quick Start director of eastern operations; Christian Hersacher; and Barry Grove, Quick Start training coordinator.

5

Cover Story

At left: A palletizing robot at Frito-Lay stacks boxes onto pallets. Below: Quick Start's simulated palletizing robot can perform the same motions as the real one. Right: Teddy Riley, who works as a palletizer at Frito-Lay, puts the robot through its paces.

Continued from page 1

goes down, there are no more midnight phone calls to the sleepless experts. Now, personnel already on the floor doing other tasks and who have been cross-trained
in robotics by Quick Start are able to monitor the complex systems themselves.
"This training is giving operators and maintenance guys with no robot experience the ability to move or restart that robot, rather than call someone else to
come do it," Skipper says. "That's what being efficient is about -- getting those robots back up as quickly as possible so they're making you money."
The Cartersville automotive supplier isn't alone in its increased reliance on advanced technology -- and advanced workforce training -- to stay in business. The reality of today's manufacturing is obvious in the numbers: In 2005, North American manufacturing companies ordered 18,228 robots valued at $1.16 billion, 23 percent more machines than in 2004. At the same time, 23 percent of Georgia manufacturers said it was a challenge finding the right employees with the right skills.
When Quick Start saw that its clients had a need for a new type of training, the development team went to work.
"Several of our client companies were using robots and exploring commercial robotic training," says David Deane,

Back to the futuristic: The evolution of the robot

In classic, dystopian flicks like "Bladerunner" and "The Terminator," the androids are portrayed as futuristic robots who, with their lifelike flesh, have evolved from the primitive clanking, smoking machines familiar to fans of "Lost in Space" or "The Jetsons."
But, in fact, "Ah-nold" looks more like the original robot than Will Robinson's wheezing sidekick.
Taken from the Czech words for "drudgery" (robota) or "serf" (robotnik), the word "robot" was first coined by Czech writer Karel Capek in his 1920 play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots) about humanoids made of flesh and blood ground up in vats, pressed into shape at stamping mills, and put to work in industry as cheap labor.
For most of the 20th century, robots have served literary purposes as a way to contemplate the question of what is human. In movies, they turn in strong performances as allegorical figures representing technology run amok. Today, however, real robots are increasingly serving their original, imagined purpose: creating efficiencies in manufacturing processes.

6

QUICK START SPRING 2006

Quick Start multimedia-based training develop-

er. "The training they found was not local,

could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars,

and was more suited to engineers than opera-

tors and maintenance personnel."

Deane and Quick Start advanced manufac-

turing specialists began developing a robot

training module unlike anything on the market.

They created a system of simulators that can

replicate any company's robotics application,

from painting to welding.

"After discussing with clients, Quick Start project coordinators and

researchers, we decided it was more cost-effective and flexible to go with soft-

ware simulations," says Vic Desmarais, advanced manufacturing training

manager. "With the hardware components we've developed as control devices,

you can program the virtual robots to operate the way one in an actual work

cell would work -- in the safety of the classroom."

The program worked. At the Kathleen, Ga., facility of Frito-Lay, for

example, the Quick Start robotics training has reduced the company's train-

ing time by half.

"The on-the-job training we had in place before

Quick Start kept the operators off the floor for three

weeks, costing between $3,000 and $3,300 in lost time,"

says Mitch Bowers, Frito-Lay's warehouse manager.

"Now, trainees are up to speed in just over a week. It's

helped quite a bit from a business standpoint."

The savings will multiply for Frito-Lay as the compa-

ny embarks on a 70,000-square-foot expansion, in which

much of the space will be filled with new robots and

Joey Watkins, Quick Start

other automated palletizing machinery.

manufacturing technology

The need for robotics and other advanced manufactur-

coordinator, leads a robotics training class at TI Automotive in Cartersville.

ing training is becoming so ubiquitous that Quick Start's industry-driven Certified Manufacturing Specialist (CMS) program is adopting it as a component of the certification

process, alongside such topics as fundamentals of electricity and plant safety.

As with all Quick Start training, at the core of all advanced manufactur-

ing training is the client. In the case of the new robotics courses, clients were

integral to the formation of the program, from their initial requests for the

training to its final delivery (see sidebar, at right).

"In presenting the concept to clients, we found they wanted to do their

own safety training, especially lock-out/tag-out training, so we incorporated

that," says Desmarais.

"No matter what the training, we must first understand what a client's

needs are, then figure out how to put the pieces of the puzzle together to

meet those needs."

This material handling robot at TI Automotive takes fuel-line tubing from an oven and places it into a machine that will bend it into shape while it's still too hot for humans to handle.

Above, from left: At Frito-Lay, palletizing coordinator James Chaney looks on as palletizers Cornelius Law and Tylina Loyd learn to use a simulated touch pad to operate a simulated robot. At left: The virtual touch pad developed by Quick Start can be configured to exactly replicate any one available to employees.
The nuts and bolts of robotics training
Quick Start's robotics training uses hardware and software created by its development team to take students through four phases, from general concepts to specific applications.
Phase I: Classroom introduction
A general overview of robotics is presented, with emphasis on safety standards as defined by the Robotic Industries Association (RIA).
Phase II: Hands-on classroom training
Students receive instruction in the use of hand-held devices to control robotic equipment and virtual simulations.
Phase III: Job-specific situations
Trainees operate virtual simulations that have been designed by Quick Start programmers to depict the actual working environment of the client company. "It's so lifelike, you'd think we were showing a video of their own robot," says David Deane, a Quick Start developer.
Phase IV: On-the-job training
Trainees graduate to the plant floor in a final phase of training that incorporates the company's own safety and other procedures.
7

Service Industry

From left: Stafford Thomas and Robert Blackman, Acuity Specialty Products customer service representatives, discuss the order-entry system at the company's Atlanta call center.

Best Supporting Factor

Quick Start training turns support staff into stars

When a company does most of its business wholesale or with institutional and industrial customers, its sales force is critical to its success.
Acuity Specialty Products (ASP) knows this better than most. The company's business units include Zep Manufacturing, which itself has 300,000 customers worldwide for its industrial maintenance and sanitation products, and Enforcer, maker of lawn care and pesticide products sold through more than 30,000 retail outlets in the U.S.
So, when the company recently consolidated its sales support by expanding its Atlanta

`Quick Start's training is
an opportunity to bring
new capabilities to this
call center.'
Ross Harding, ASP Executive Vice President
headquarters, it took the opportunity to call on Quick Start to help train employees at the expanding call center.
Until recently, service representatives at 40-plus call centers supported the 1,500-strong sales staff, entering orders and helping service their accounts. Decentralized support,
however, meant salespeople found different levels of quality in service at the centers. Consolidation
meant adding 50 jobs to ASP's Atlanta center, but also brought the chance to improve efficiency.
ASP sales representatives make at least 50 percent of calls to the center, where new hires realize quickly that supporting internal customers presents unique challenges.

"It's equally important to provide superior service to our own internal customers, the sales reps, to support them in growing their business," says Olga Martinez, ASP's director of customer service. "Our sales force is everything to this company -- if they didn't recognize our efforts in helping them, we wouldn't be successful."
Ross Harding, executive vice president at ASP, says relying on Quick Start to provide professional training allows the company to focus its energy on raising the service levels the center can provide.
"This training is an opportunity to bring new capabilities to this call center," he says. "We're going to have people trained to engage callers in two-way conversation, to introduce new products and concepts. That's exciting."
"If Quick Start hadn't been able to provide this kind of service, I would have had to do it piecemeal," adds Martinez. "It would have affected our bottom line, because we never could have even come close to creating the caliber of center we are developing in such a brief amount of time."
From left: Ross Harding, Acuity Specialty Products executive vice president; and Olga Martinez, director of customer service, in front of some of the many chemical products sold by the company.

Phone Home

Hamilton Relay helps make the connection

If you had trouble hearing or speaking over the telephone, how would you order a pizza? Make a doctor's appointment? Call your mom just to say hi?
You'd use telecommunications relay, a free service that enables telephone communications for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech disabled.
Hamilton Relay, a division of Nebraska-based Hamilton Telecom-

munications, began operating Georgia's telecommunication relay service in April and recently entered into a partnership with Quick Start and Albany Technical College to train employees at their new Albany call center.
To make a relay call, people with hearing or speech difficulties can use a text telephone, also known as a teletypewriter, or TTY, to dial 7-1-1, a nationwide relay number. A Commu-

How "Georgia Relay" works
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, each state is required to provide a service that helps citizens with difficulties speaking or hearing make telephone calls. In Georgia, the Public Service Commission (PSC) oversees "Georgia Relay." In April, Hamilton Relay began operating the free, 24-hour service under contract with the Georgia PSC.
This is how "Georgia Relay" works:
1. Using a TTY (TeleTYpewriter), a user dials 7-1-1, which connects to a
Communication Assistant (CA) at the Hamilton Relay call center.
2. The user communicates with the CA by typing on the TTY. 3. The CA then dials the number the TTY user is trying to reach. 4. The CA serves as the voice of the TTY user, reading aloud what the TTY
user types to the standard telephone user, and typing what the standard telephone user says back to the TTY user. The CA also describes voice intonation and background noise for the TTY user.
5. Standard telephone users can also initiate calls through the relay.

Signing a training agreement between Quick Start, Albany Technical College and Hamilton Relay are, from left: Robert Patterson, Hamilton Relay senior relay manager; Dr. Anthony Parker, Albany Tech president; and Sandra Morris, Quick Start director of performance technology.
nication Assistant answers and relays the call, reading typed messages aloud to hearing persons and typing spoken words for the TTY user.
Communication Assistants have a challenging position as the invisible link between callers. They have to have excellent memories, speaking voices, spelling and keyboarding skills. The Federal Communications Commission mandates they maintain confidentiality, and that they type at least 60 words per minute.
Hamilton Relay has an extensive company training program, but to get new employees up to speed before beginning company training, Hamilton executives turned to Quick Start.
"Quick Start's ability to jump in and develop a new typing curriculum has helped us tremendously," said Senior Relay Manager Robert Patterson. "The skills our employees are gaining through Albany Tech and Quick Start will help them achieve career goals."
Quick Start is training more than 100 Communication Assistants in everything from service skills to keyboarding. Because of the unique requirements of this position, the Quick Start team developed new keyboarding training, writing and recording scripts and editing them at incrementally increasing speed levels to help improve trainees' typing proficiencies.
"A customer-driven focus is key to everything Hamilton Relay does," said Patterson. "Quick Start has taken that same concept and created a course curriculum specific to the needs of our trainees. It's an excellent opportunity for us."
9

Manufacturing Sector

In a Glass by Itself
Increased demand drives expansion at Saint-Gobain's Sparta facility
Paris Hilton is not the type of socialite-turned-entrepreneur you would usually associate with rural Hancock County, Ga. Neither is Calvin Klein. But Calvin and Paris are just two of the internationally famous brand names that have come to Saint-Gobain Desjonqueres' state-of-the-art facility in Sparta to have their perfume, cologne and other accessory bottles decorated. And they come for one reason: The team in Sparta is the best in the business. "Our quality is excellent, and that is why companies like Lancme have asked to have their work done here," said Jean Christophe Duchamp, Saint-Gobain's vice president of manufacturing. Every day, the Sparta facility produces thousands of lacquered and printed bottles destined for the high-end cosmetics market where the jewel-like bottles are almost as important as the scents they contain. The bottles themselves are made at the facility's sister plant in Covington, Ga., and shipped to Sparta where they are

King's passion leads to Sparta

In the late 17th century, the French king, Louis XIV, decided he wanted mirrors to decorate his palace at Versailles. The Italian city of Venice, however, controlled the art and craft of glassmaking at the time. So, the self-proclaimed "Sun King" (he picked the sun as his emblem because of its association with Apollo, the god of peace and the arts) enticed Venetian glassmakers to come to Paris and teach their secrets to French artisans. A few of the Venetians were poisoned by Italian assassins -- propri-

etary information, after all -- but enough survived to help create Versailles' Hall of Mirrors and found France's first glass company, Saint-Gobain.
The company grew steadily, and in 1830 opened its first sales office in New York. In the early 20th century, SaintGobain was Europe's leading glassmaker and was the first to make tempered security glass. In recent decades, the company has diversified into building materials, ceramics, abrasives and plastics. The two plants -- one making,

Palace at Versailles, courtesy of www.bigfoto.com.
one decorating fine glass bottles for the high-end perfume and cosmetics industry -- continue the tradition that began more than 350 years ago with the passion of a celestial monarch with a taste for the spectacular.

10

QUICK START SPRING 2006

given frosted or colored finishes,

then printed with logos and

decorations. Final, detailed

inspections guarantee a flawless

product that is 100 percent "made in Georgia."

Last year, the Sparta plant decorated 60 million bottles, and

the company hopes to significantly increase the production

capacity after completion of a new expansion, which will add

advanced manufacturing equipment and 92 new jobs at the

facility, which currently employs nearly 180.

"Saint-Gobain is expanding in Hancock County for one

simple reason: Our clients want more," said Duchamp. "We're growing here because of the growth of our business in the U.S.

From left: Saint-Gobain's Jean Christophe Duchamp highlights the unique qualities of the products produced in Sparta for Jan

market. As brands become successful, so does the plant in Sparta. It is the largest in the country and one of the few that

Melcher, Quick Start director of eastern operations, and Eddie Fite, Quick Start training manager.

decorates so many bottles for so many high-end clients." The

company will partner with Quick Start and Sandersville Technical College to

train the new employees in safety, the metric system, and other skills required

to maintain the high standards the company has become famous for.

"Quick Start has worked with Saint-Gobain since the beginning," said

Jackie Rohosky, who oversees Quick Start. "We're committed to continuing

our support for the company and its employees as they achieve such remark-

able success."

The company located its plant

in Sparta in 2002 after choosing

Georgia in part due to the avail-

ability of Quick Start training.

Today, the company attribut-

es much of its success to its

partnership with Quick Start

From left: Jean Christophe Duchamp, vice president of manufacturing, Saint-Gobain; Dr. Lloyd Horadan, president, Sandersville Technical College; Rita Poole, decorations director, Saint-Gobain; Jan Melcher, Quick Start director of eastern operations; Diane Feorino, human resources manager, Saint-Gobain; and Eddie Fite, Quick Start training manager at the recent training plan signing in Sparta.

and Sandersville Tech. "It's true," said Rita Poole,
Saint-Gobain's decoration director, at the training plan signing for the new expansion. "What we have learned since [opening three years ago] is that we could

Constant companions
In 1996, when Saint-Gobain broke ground in Newton County for a $40 million perfume bottle manufacturing plant, the Covington

not have gotten here on our own."

facility became the fourth Saint-

"You guys have made us successful," said Diane Feorino, head of human

Gobain operation in Georgia. At the

resources and training for Saint-Gobain. "Quick Start and Sandersville

time, other facilities made insulation,

Technical College have been the lifeline along the way. We have survived

PVC pipe and vinyl siding in Athens,

because of everybody's support."

Social Circle and Flowery Branch.

Lloyd Horadan, president of Sandersville Tech, said he was excited about

Since then, the company has added a

the new opportunities available to the residents in the region. "The creation

flat-glass plant in Madison and the

of 92 new jobs is a significant investment in the community," Horadan said.

bottle decorating plant in Sparta.

The training of Saint-Gobain's workforce is critical because the company

From the beginning, the

relies on equipment and procedures that require advanced skills and a

Department of Technical and Adult

sophisticated work ethic.

Education has been a partner with

"We believe we can manufacture in the U.S., and we are proving that to

the two perfume bottle facilities. In

our customers," Duchamp said. "We operate in the high-end market using a

fact, before the Covington plant was

unique technique with unique skills as our core. Our new expansion will

available, Saint-Gobain staff set up

have robotics and automated manufacturing at its base, and that will be the

temporary offices at DeKalb Technical

key to our success."

College's Covington campus.

11

DELIVERY SYSTEM
34 Technical Colleges With Multiple Campuses 4 University System Colleges With Technical Divisions

Michael F. Vollmer, Commissioner Georgia Department of Technical
and Adult Education www.georgiaquickstart.org

Quick Start Project Announcements
... Serving communities throughout Georgia

Alpharetta: DLX Dampers and Louvers,

Lithia Springs: Office supply company Staples is opening a new

manufacturer of HVAC accessories, is

fulfillment center for small businesses, creating 100 jobs.

creating 15 jobs.

Lithia Springs: Uniform Advantage is creating 90 jobs at

Austell: Aftermarket auto parts distributor Keystone Automotive is creating 100 jobs.

Cedartown Flowery Branch Austell Mableton

a new distribution center for uniforms. Mableton: Aldelano Packaging Corporation is

Baxley: Fiberglass boat manufacturer

Lithia Springs

Carrollton

Covington

expanding, creating 28 jobs.

Contender Boats Inc. is creating 400 jobs.

Macon: Food and beverage company Sara

Carrollton: Greenway Medical Technologies,

Senoia McDonough

Waynesboro

Lee is creating 130 jobs at a new warehouse and distribution center.

a medical software and services provider, is expanding, creating 200 jobs.

Macon

McDonough: Rheem, a maker of

water heaters, furnaces and air

Cedartown: Office furniture manufacturer The

conditioners, is creating 54 jobs

HON Company is expanding, adding 24 jobs.

at its Henry County distribu-

Savannah

tion center.

Columbus: Road America, provider of

customized roadside and comprehensive

Baxley

Savannah: Gypsum board

assistance solutions for business-to-business

manufacturer Georgia-Pacific

clients, is opening a 300 seat, 25,000-square-

Douglas

Gypsum is adding 80 positions

foot customer contact support center,

in an expansion.

creating 150 jobs.

Senoia: Winpak, manufacturer

Covington: Comusa will be making "Funcster,"

of film for flexible packaging, is

a long-fiber glass reinforced thermoplastic resin

expanding, adding 40-70 jobs.

for injection molding developed by Japanese par-

ent company, Chisso, creating 30 jobs.

Tifton: COI Foodservice

Distribution/Manufacturing, supplier of

Covington: Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, maker of corrugated

food service to more than 1,200 restaurants

containers, is adding 35 jobs in an expansion.

in 29 states, is creating 60 jobs in an expansion.

Douglas: Wire and cable manufacturer American Insulated Wire is creating 250 jobs at a new Coffee County facility.

Tifton: Flexible-packaging provider Exopack LLC is creating 51 jobs in an expansion of its facility for making multiwall paper shipping sacks.

Flowery Branch: DS Waters, producer and distributor of bottled water, is expanding its Flowery Branch customer support center from 110 to 170 full-time employees.
Flowery Branch: AC and DC motor manufacturer Rockwell Automation is expanding, adding 20 jobs.
Flowery Branch: WRIGLEY Manufacturing, maker of chewing gum, is adding 200 jobs in an expansion.

Toccoa: Trailer axle producer Axis Products is creating 55 jobs.
Toccoa: Gem Industries, maker of metal doors and partitions, is expanding, creating 50 jobs.
Waynesboro: FIAMM Technologies Inc. is expanding its facility for manufacturing cell tower backup batteries, creating 30 jobs.

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