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Carroll County’s Connect 4 program recently partnered with a pair of area companies to provide industrial specialized training.
Over a four-week period, 15 employees of Tyson Foods and Wabash in Harrison received online and in-person training focused on motor controls as Connect 4 strives to lead the way in automation training for local industries, according to Jennifer Winkle, with Connect 4.
“Connect 4 partnered with Sneed University so they could supply the online curriculum,” Winkle said, adding that Connect 4 director James Knight led all the lectures and labs.
David Davis, human resources director at Wabash, said the Connect 4 training is beneficial for the company in many ways.
“The Wabash maintenance has partnered with Connect 4 for an adult training project that will result in increased employee knowledge, an increase in yield, a decrease in downtime, and higher employee engagement and retention,” Davis said. “Harrison manufacturing employees will use this project to learn basic to advanced skills in all maintenance trades. Determined by the employee and future learners’ current skills, this project will give the adult learner didactic instruction, whether onsite, online, or in person; allowing each one to have tailored learning at their convenience while business needs are met. This learning will advance business needs and propel the lives of our manufacturing employees and their families for a lifetime.”
Wabash employees more than 7,000 employees, 270 at the Harrison site, Davis said.
“All Harrison employees’ job sustainability and survivability rely heavily on our 59 maintenance and operator personnel to accomplish their tasks accurately and expediently,” Davis said. “Those 48 employees would be directly affected by the manufacturing project’s scope. Therefore, allowing them to work more and learn at the same time.”
Aric Palmer with Tyson Foods said he feels a relationship with Connect 4 is important to the community.
“Over the last five years I feel the Tyson plants in the area have built a strong partnership with the Connect 4 training program,” Palmer said. “We have been excited to see the program grow and evolve over the years.
“C4 is in the business of helping build futures, and I’ve personally seen many success stories come out of this training.”
A better experience for not only the employees, but also customers, is a key result from such training, Davis said.
“The customer demand for a product creates an ever-increasing need for higher yield; all the while, technology, robotics, and automation change the business environment,” Davis said “Thus, our business and employees do not have the time or resources to keep up with learning to support the changes. This problem results in longstanding patchwork holding millions of dollars of equipment together in an unsafe and unreliable manner. Both personnel and manufacturing resources are at risk.
“Due to this vital training, we expect this to reduce the maintenance turnover rate and downtime. The partnership with Connect 4 gives our Wabash employees increased pride, and hope for a better future for themselves and their families. Allowing them to better provide safe products for their manufacturing employees, their business, and their own families.
“…We have been and are still in challenging times of locating and hiring qualified maintenance employees. Connect 4 will help sustain our manufacturers in Northern Arkansas.”
Connect 4 is currently planning for training sessions at Silver Dollar City in Branson this coming winter.
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