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Testimonials

Testimonials

We’ve had a lot of success with business partners over the 50 years we’ve been in operation. Here’s just one of those success stories!

Powertech employees with a clipboard

In summer 2017, West Georgia Technical College worked with an automotive parts manufacturer in Troup County to train the manufacturer’s employees while the West Point plant underwent a 10-week “retool.”

Hyundai Powertech America (PTA), which provides transmissions for KIA Motors Manufacturing Georgia and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama in Montgomery, completed a retooling project in which approximately 80 percent of the equipment in the plant was replaced, with the remaining 20 percent being rebuilt.

Rather than laying employees off during this period, PTA decided to utilize this opportunity to train its employees in a multitude of business skills.

That’s where West Georgia Tech came in.

Laura Boalch Gammage, Executive Vice President of Economic Development at West Georgia Tech, said the college was honored to fill PTA’s need.

“We were so excited to help Powertech ‘skill up’ their workforce,” Gammage said. “This is an example of what our Economic Development division can do to fill needs that aren’t being met by anyone else. We can design classes based on an individual or company’s needs that can be customized to time or location.”

The company’s 272 employees were trained for 10 weeks at West Georgia Tech’s Callaway Conference Center in LaGrange for 40 hours each week. Employees were trained in communication, workplace safety and manufacturing operations.

Here’s what Ransbottom had to say about West Georgia Tech after the training was complete: “I was very pleasantly surprised at how West Georgia Tech really spent a lot of time listening to what our need was at the company and focusing on how best to meet that need. The instructors were great, and several came out of industry and manufacturing, which gave them a unique perspective in teaching our employees. Whatever I wanted out of the process, West Georgia Tech was right there, with a very quick turnaround. The entire team has done nothing but great things for us.”