Northeast State and the Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing (RCAM) visited old friends this month to welcome a new apprentice at the Bell Piney Flats site.
RCAM staff welcomed Bell’s Bryon Andersen into the apprenticeship fold. He signed his apprenticeship agreement at the Bell Piney Flats site on February 14. Representatives from RCAM, Northeast State, and the state Tennessee Apprenticeship program attended the signing.
“We welcome Bryon as the newest member of the apprentice family,” said Heath McMillian, executive director of Economic and Workforce Development at RCAM. “We have great momentum going into 2022 to keep building the workforce with our partners.”
Andersen relocated to East Tennessee from California 19 years ago to join the Bell facility. He works in the machining shop at Bell. He opted to enter the machine tool apprenticeship pathway. The machine tool path requires an apprentice to complete 8,000 hours of on-the-job training in specific training modules.
“I wanted to learn the machining skills to become more professional in what I do,” said Andersen.
New apprentices and partners continue to join the group registered apprenticeship program established by RCAM and Northeast State in 2017. The College worked with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Apprenticeship to unite college technical education and regional economic development. As a DOL registered apprenticeship sponsor, RCAM provides the structure and processes for employers of all sizes to take advantage of this proven workforce development model.
Andersen becomes the newest candidate to join the RCAM apprentice candidate team this year. Two apprentices from Silgan Closures in Kingsport and the first apprentice from the ebm-papst company in Washington County inked their agreements in January. When completing all course and on-the-job work hours, these apprentices will receive a DOL certificate of completion.
Apprentice candidates must possess a high school diploma or equivalent and be over 18 years of age. Candidates meet testing proficiency requirements set forth by the National Career Readiness Certificate WorkKeys assessments. Candidates attend and pass coursework off-hours, demonstrate progress on the job, and submit monthly work progress reports.
David Galik, general manager of the Bell Piney Flat site, said the group apprenticeship program served as an excellent complement to Bell’s commitment to develop team talent. He also noted it reflected Bell’s value system of investing in people.
“This is all about continuous improvement and the learning process,” said Galik. “We adopted the proven philosophy of, ‘We build people before we build helicopters,’ and this is a demonstration of that.”
The first Bell team members entered the group apprenticeship program pursuing the machine tool certification in November of 2020. Northeast State’s Machine Tool Operations certificate program prepares students to become machinists. Those trained machinists read blueprints, operate precision measuring instruments, metal-turning lathes, milling machines, and CNC equipment. The course work and contact hours working at Bell form the knowledge base of their apprenticeship certification.
“The program teaches our guys valuable skills that will be a blessing to us,” said Galik.
Companies seeking to develop their employees through registered apprenticeship training follow an easy process. The RCAM Staff guides a company through the process of becoming an Authorized Training Agent (ATA). That leads a company on-the-job training for employees selected to enter apprenticeship program.
Welcoming these new apprentices continues the robust relationship between Northeast State and Bell.
“This relationship highlights how we make our team flexible and finding a better way,” said Galik. “We want to build our people to build better helicopters, solve problems for our customers and make for an even better place to work.”
