Richland College, Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), Dallas County Manufacturers’ Association (DCMA), Garland Chamber of Commerce and local business representatives were present at a check-signing ceremony Wednesday morning at Richland College Garland Campus to award Richland College with a $500,388 Skills Development Fund Grant from the TWC.
The grant will be used by Richland College to train 285 employees, totaling more than 9,278 training hours, for companies including Garrett Metal Detectors; Interceramic; Plastipak Packaging, Inc.; Sanden Vendo; SilverLine by Andersen and Van Rob. Employees being trained will include manufacturing and production supervisors and technicians, purchasing clerks and human resource personnel.
Training under the grant includes AutoCAD, process improvement, electrical basics and troubleshooting, hydraulics, blueprint reading, Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma Green Belt, CPR/first aid/AED, project management and Microsoft Office. Upon completion of training, the workers will receive an average hourly wage of $21.71.
“This grant enables our partnership to expand technical and non-technical training to the employees at six Garland-area and regional manufacturing companies, continuing to leverage our abilities to grow manufacturing capabilities in the Garland area and contributing to a skilled Texas workforce and growing economic base in our local area, region and state,” said Richland College President Kathryn K. Eggleston, Ph.D.
Event speakers included Eggleston, Richland College Garland Campus Director of Corporate and Community Relations Konley Kelley, TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Ronald G. Congleton, SilverLine by Andersen Human Resources Manager Marvin Fisher and Garland Chamber and DCMA CEO Paul Mayer.
“Our Skills Development Fund grant serves everyone well,” said Congleton. “Workers get the specialized training they need, and the communities benefit from a more highly skilled workforce.”
