Hyundai WIA Aids Training Efforts

Left to right: IC Lee, President of Hyundai WIA America Corp, Jeremy R. Shamp, Vice President/Co-Owner of Excel Machine Technologies, Scott Cummings and David Phillips of G.W. Lisk. They are standing in front of an F400 Value Master, which is similar to the machine Hyundai will be loaning to the program.

This past Tuesday I had the opportunity to visit Hyundai WIA America Corp.'s U.S. headquarters in Carlstadt, NJ as the company hosted its North East Technology Expo. Not only did I see live machine demos and attend a seminar on automation, but I got to hear first-hand of the company’s donation to an apprenticeship training program at Finger Lakes Community College (FLCC).

Based in Clifton Springs, NY, G.W. Lisk Company designs and manufactures custom solenoids, solenoid valves and LVDTs—and like so many mold manufacturers—faces the challenge of finding skilled labor, particularly CNC machinists. So Scott Cummings, Lisk’s Manufacturing Manager, decided to do something about it, and partnered with FLCC to launch an apprenticeship program. “We bring in unskilled workers for six months and train them,” Cummings says, “and then line up interviews for them so they can find jobs.” The 500-hour program is one-third classroom instruction and two-thirds in the lab. To date, 25 students have graduated since the program started in September 2011. Most are with Lisk although a few sought employment with other manufacturers.

Paramount to the lab portion of the program is training the apprentices on modern equipment. That’s where Hyundai WIA comes in. The company will loan them two machines through its dealer Excel Machine Technologies (based in Rochester, NY)—an F500 VMC and the other most likely an L2100SY multitasking machine. Hyundai Wia Marketing Manager Dave Barber emphasizes that, “Hyundai is committed to the continued investment in the education of machinists.”