mtu AMERICA RECEIVES INAUGURAL WORKFORCE INNOVATOR AWARD FROM SOUTH CAROLINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

• Local diesel engine manufacturer praised for high school apprenticeship program

Graniteville, S.C., U.S.A. – mtu America was recently honored with the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Workforce Innovator Award for a medium-sized business, in recognition of its innovative youth apprenticeship program. Award winners were recognized for using their own resources and ingenuity to implement private sector workforce development solutions to address the skills gap and help create a South Carolina workforce of the future. mtu is part of Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

The award was presented during the 2016 Workforce Development Symposium, an event hosted by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. Jeremy Diebel, apprenticeship coordinator and Arjonetta Gaillard, human resources manager, accepted the award on mtu America’s behalf.

“It is humbling to receive this honor from the very community that we strive to enrich with our apprenticeship program,” said Diebel. “Our partnership with Aiken County’s high schools and its career and technology center is key to the success of our program. We’re motived by the young faces that walk through our doors. The ability to positively impact the future career paths of these promising students reinforces the importance of public/private partnerships for the betterment of the community where we live and work.”

mtu America’s apprenticeship program gives high school juniors and seniors a structured training system to obtain work skills immediately sought by employers for careers in manufacturing. Upon passing the program’s final exam, mtu’s apprentices receive a certification as an Industrial Mechanic (Basic), an international credential that qualifies them to work in any manufacturing facility in South Carolina or Germany. mtu launched the program in 2012 and is currently recruiting for its fifth class of apprentices.

Recently, mtu expanded its commitment to South Carolina’s youth by supporting the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics with two sponsorships. mtu contributed a $5,000 sponsorship to the Aiken presence of the “CREATEng” program, a statewide engineering summer camp that immerses rising eighth- and ninth-graders into engineering and design-based thinking. mtu also contributed a $10,000 sponsorship to “Accelerate”, a program that aims to develop the next generation of creative engineers and technical leaders by offering motivated high school students an innovative and accelerated path toward college engineering degrees across the state of South Carolina.