Georgia's Quick Start job training program was faced with a difficult challenge when it agreed to train 200 aircraft assembly technicians in four months. As its name implies, the program has been known for its ability to train workers quickly and get them on the job. But never before had it attempted to achieve so much in so little time.

It was in the heat of August 1996 when McDonnell Douglas in Macon, now The Boeing Company, presented Quick Start with this challenge. Because of an increase in military aircraft orders and an expansion of the scope of its work, Boeing needed 200 skilled aircraft assembly technicians on the job by the end of the year.

"It was crucial that Boeing-Team Macon have these new employees trained and ready to go to work as they came into our facility," says Don Pope, general manager of Boeing in Macon. "Not having new team-mates in the workplace at the required time would have had a negative impact on our program's manufacturing requirements. It was also essential . . . that these potential new teammates . . . have an understanding of high quality work."

Undaunted by the task, Quick Start formed a partnership with Macon Technical Institute and went to work. By the second week of September, Quick Start simultaneously began training technicians and redesigning existing aircraft assembly curricula in use by the state's technical institutes. Macon Tech provided the training facilities and one of the instructors for the course. "In Quick Start's 30-year history, it has encountered other situations where a company needed training completed in a short time frame," says Marla Lowe, director of regional project operations at Quick Start in Vidalia. "But we had never had a project of such magnitude that had to be completed so quickly . . . We had to pull a project team together in a matter of days. And as fast as we revised the curriculum, we put it in the classroom. We saw student performance improve as we got new material in the classroom."

By the end of 1996, Boeing had doubled its aircraft assembly staff to 400, Georgia's economy got a shot in the arm and DTAE had a redesigned Aircraft Technology Training Technical Certificate of Credit program -- a short course that focuses on specific skills.

"We were pleased with the skills these new employees brought to Boeing. They were able to go into the workforce without having to be taught basics on site," Pope says.

Meanwhile, these new, high-paying jobs benefited Georgians -- and not just the 200 people who were hired. "This TCC program has had a dramatic effect on the aerospace industry in Georgia and on the workforce in the state," Lowe says. "It has made Georgia more competitive for aerospace industry jobs, many of which have historically gone to California."

"I see a bright future for this TCC program," Lowe says. "This training was driven by Boeing, and we met their needs. But the bigger picture is that we now have a redesigned statewide training program that is meeting the needs of the state's aerospace industry. "

The redesigned Aircraft Technology Training TCC currently is offered at seven technical institutes.

3-D animation helps students
understand how an object
relates to simple blueprints

"The hands-on training was essential in preparing these students to learn and complete the aircraft blueprint reading fundamentals," Pope says. "The multimedia approach helped us fuel the interest of the students."

Quick Start used a team-teaching approach, according to Mike Patrick, a project team member with Quick Start in Vidalia. "In the Boeing project, we combined two 15-person classes and used two instructors," he explains. "If two or three students fell behind, one of the instructors would give one-on-one instruction to help those trainees catch-up. The team-teaching method worked well when you had a large number of people to train in a short time.
 

Classes are offered during the day and evening at most locations. The students -- who are pre-screened by the company seeking employees, a technical institute or the Georgia Department of Labor -- typically attend classes on their own time and pay for the training themselves, unless they receive a Georgia lottery-funded HOPE Grant. After students earn a TCC, the hiring company makes the final decision on which graduates to employ.

I have high praise for the revised aircraft assembly technician curriculum that Quick Start completed," says Matt Grubb, senior productivity analyst with Boeing in Macon. "It was very specialized training and presented a challenge to Quick Start."

The Gulfstream manufacturing facility
in Savannah, Georgia (Photo/DTAE File)

The Ripple Effect
Other aerospace companies also are pleased with the new TCC program. Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, headquartered in Savannah, entered into a partnership with Quick Start and Savannah Technical Institute in July 1997 to train 700 new employees over the next three years. To fill the highest number of orders in its history, Gulfstream must double production of its G4 and G5 business jets. So far, Quick Start and Savannah Tech have trained 60 technicians in an Aircraft Technology Training TCC customized for Gulfstream, says William Mitchell, instructional designer at Quick Start in Vidalia. These trainees are now on the job.

"The Quick Start program has been good, very beneficial," says Brian Burk, senior instructor in manufacturing training for Gulfstream in Savannah. "They have provided a much-needed service in training new aircraft structural mechanics . . . The Quick Start-Savannah Tech partnership allows us to share resources and, in turn, Gulfstream saves money and time."

Meanwhile, at Northrop Grumman in Milledgeville, Quick Start is providing a customized version of Aircraft Technology Training in a mobile classroom at the company's facilities. Pre-hire trainees attend sessions for four hours a day for two weeks. Responding to Northrop Grumman's expansion, this program started in January 1997 and is modeled after the TCC program created for Boeing. The hands-on and multimedia approach is used, but the subject matter is somewhat different. Northrop Grumman's Milledgeville site builds composite components, control surfaces and nacelles for commercial aircraft engines.

"The program is very successful so far," says David Childs, skills training coordinator at Northrop Grumman in Milledgeville. "Ninety- eight percent of the new hires made it through the 90-day probationary period."

In Albany, Quick Start is partnering with Albany Technical Institute to train aircraft assembly technicians for Georgia-based Ayres Corporation, which builds an agricultural airplane and three models of helicopters. Quick Start tailored the curriculum to meet Ayres' need for employees trained in basic sheet metal production and blueprint reading, says Milt Humphries, vice president of Ayres.

In Americus, Ayres also has partnered with South Georgia Technical Institute for sheet metal production and blueprint reading training. "We will use Quick Start again to train workers," Humphries says.

The Future
With an increase in aircraft orders and training developed by Quick Start, the future of the aerospace industry in Georgia looks promising, many officials agree. For one thing, they credit Quick Start with helping to stabilize the state's aerospace industry workforce.

"Having workers who are local is an advantage," Humphries says. "It reduces turnover. It gets people employed and off the welfare rolls. Quick Start gives Georgia a tremendous advantage. It gives us a stable workforce and helps our community." A stable workforce means Georgia is better able to compete with other states for aerospace industry jobs.

Former Quick Start trainee Tim Gordon,
a Boeing-Team Macon team leader drills holes
in a C-17 fuselage. (Photo/Boeing)

Quick Start helps Georgia companies compete in the global marketplace by providing quality workforce training. Fortune magazine has recognized Quick Start for its effectiveness in providing comprehensive and advanced training.

"The Quick Start program is a model for any state," says Burk of Gulfstream. "Georgia has been very proactive with its technical institutes and with Quick Start. The program is well-rounded."

Jane M. Sanders is a free-lance writer
and editor based in Kennesaw, Georgia

Quick Start, Georgia's premier economic development program, provides employee training at no cost to qualified new, expanding or existing companies. Since 1967, more than 263,000 employees at more than 2,600 companies have benefited from Quick Start training. Quick Start is administered by the Department of Technical and Adult Education.