Manufacturing Sector
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Since 1967, Quick Start has served as an economic development incentive for companies to locate or expand in Georgia, and recently, funds were allocated to begin working with existing industry. From the beginning, Quick Start has grown steadily each year. To date, some 4,000 companies and over 400,000 people have benefited from Quick Start’s training expertise. Providing comprehensive training to qualified companies, Quick Start is recognized internationally as one of the most effective and business-like training organizations in
the country.

 

  "Quite frankly, Quick Start has contributed to our bottom line. … It has gone above and beyond our expectations.”

— Frantz Pierre, VP and division
manager of Ricoh Electronics

 

Number of Projects 1990 through 2002

 

 

Projects Proliferate

From 2001 to 2002, the number of Quick Start projects increased from 296 to 315. Of the 315 projects, 134 were with new projects and 181 were expanding and existing projects. FY02 is the 11th consecutive year in which the number of expansion projects exceeded new projects.

Record Trainee Count 
The number of trainees for new, expanding and existing companies increased by 2,385 (6.1 percent) this year, from 39,416 in FY01 to 41,801. This is a duplicated training count. Due to the complexity of today’s jobs, most employees require training in multiple skill tracks. This year’s number of trainees set another record for Quick Start.
 

Number of Trainees

 

Geographic Distribution
More than half of Quick Start’s projects took place in rural Georgia, and roughly 20,000 of the 40,000 trainees were with companies located outside Georgia’s seven major metropolitan statistical areas. In addition, Quick Start’s mobile technology training lab winds its way across the state of Georgia, hosting over 1,000 students to date for computer-related training.

 

 

“Your effort to protect jobs in a rural community is just phenomenal. We’re pleased to be a partner, and pleased that Quick Start is able to take part, because jobs in Screven County are very important to us.”

— Dr. Stephen Deraney, Ogeechee Technical College president, speaking to executives
at King America fabric plant

 

 


 
MSA # of Projects
%
 
Albany
5
1.6
Pie chart showing rural projects versus MSAs.
Athens
6
1.9
Atlanta
87
27.7
Augusta
14
4.4
Columbus
12
3.8
Macon
11
3.5
Savannah
7
2.2
Rural
173
54.9
Total
315
100.0
       
MSA # of Trainees
%
 
Albany
2,883
6.9
Pie chart showing rural trainees versus MSAs.
Athens
181
0.4
Atlanta
6,976
16.6
Augusta
5,038
12.1
Columbus
2,122
5.1
Macon
725
1.7
Savannah
1,904
4.6
Rural
21,972
52.6
Total
41,801
100.0