OTHER ARTICLES Georgia Reaches Into the Future With Caterpillar Companies Have Georgia on Their Minds Georgia Proves Fertile Ground for E*Trade Briggs & Stratton: State Quick Starts an Engine Manufacturer Workforce Development Expert Sees Quick Start a Solid National Model Focus: Vice Presidents, Economic Development Programs Technical Institutes Brief R. K. Sehgal

State Quick Starts an Engine Manufacturer When Briggs & Stratton came to Statesboro in 1996, no company had ever produced engines in Bulloch County. Eight months later, the Quick Start process had helped move Briggs from zero production in Statesboro to an operating plant with 375,000 square feet and more than 500 employees. Today the growing facility employs more than 800 skilled workers. David Rushing monitors a dies cast machine "We met our hiring goals and started up the plant ahead of schedule," says Chris Kurz, plant manager. Briggs & Stratton received thousands of applications a week for the new jobs in Statesboro. Time became critical when the plant opening date was moved up. How to train all of those new employees? Bring on Quick Start. Quick Start provided a performance assessment plan that served as a framework for the entire hiring process. Briggs & Stratton management applied the plan guidelines to screening and pre-hire activities. During the pre-hire phase, screened applicants attended four hours of training each night for 10 nights, all with no guarantee of employment. Quick Start's pre-hire training package included a company orientation and instruction in safety, quality, mathematics, advanced blueprint reading, mechanical skills, electrical-skills and fluid-power applications. Curtis Moseley, Briggs & Stratton's manager of human resources for Statesboro, knows how much time and effort Quick Start saved the company during establishment of its local workforce. Classie Ellison works on automated engine assembly "If there had been no Quick Start, we would have had to create our own system for screening and hiring employees, and develop our own training program and materials," Moseley says. "Those tasks would have been in addition to a multitude of other responsibilities as we moved toward plant startup." The course Briggs & Stratton chose for pre-hire was a first for Quick Start: the complete disassembly and reassembly of an engine. "The Quick Start trainers became like an extension of the Briggs & Stratton staff," Moseley says. "The courses and manuals they produced for us are well designed, enticing and easy to use." The engine-tear-down course is still used for new employees coming into the Statesboro plant, which now produces engines for lawn mowers and electric generators. "The engine course gives an employee a chance to see the big picture rather than just the single component on which he or she works," says Kurz. "They learn how important every piece is to an engine's proper functioning." Engineer Les Walczak works on an engine in testing lab By observing employees during the tear-down course, Briggs & Stratton's management can assess individual interpersonal skills and group dynamics. "The Quick Start people are more like valued consultants than mere trainers," Kurz says. "They understand the cycles of our business and they keep in touch. Quick Start keeps us updated on the impact of new OSHA regulations and safety concerns, and keeps us focused on the importance of continuity in all of our job functions. That kind of focus makes us a stronger facility." Teamwork Triumphs in Statesboro It was the teamwork that impressed them. Briggs & Stratton saw the same cohesion and true spirit of cooperation in the development team for Statesboro that the company wanted in its new local workforce. The team not only included local and regional business leadership but also representatives from Georgia Quick Start. "The chemistry clearly worked," says Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce President Peggy Chapman. "We set up meetings for Briggs with representatives from all of the local industries and local government organizations. Everyone - from the water and sewage department, department of labor, department of transportation and all of our educational institutions - everyone was at the table." The company's choice of a Statesboro site was made in six weeks — from an initial meeting to signing on the dotted line — the swiftest project ever pulled together in the Statesboro area. Steve Deraney and Peggy Chapman "Because the whole negotiating and decision-making process happened so fast, Quick Start had to jump right in," says Chapman. "But that is the beauty of a team, of passing the ball. When it was Quick Start's turn to be out front, the company and community stood back and gave the staff the support it needed." Logistical support came in particular from Ogeechee Technical Institute, which has continued to provide classroom space for Quick Start in addition to filling training needs between phases of Quick Start projects. "Quick Start's training was a strong incentive for Briggs & Stratton in its initial decision making," says Ogeechee Technical Institute President Steve Deraney. "And for the long view, the proximity of Ogeechee Tech and Georgia Southern helped close the sale." One area where Quick Start, Ogeechee Tech and the Statesboro business community all agree: Statesboro has grown up professionally in the image it presents. "Other companies since have benefited from the rapid-fire delivery that Briggs & Stratton required," says Deraney. "The business climate has improved; the workforce is more skilled," says Chapman. "Each new company that comes into the area builds onto the dynamics that have been created in the last five years, beginning with Wal-Mart, then Briggs, and our most recent announcement, Viracon. We have proven that working together works."

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