Avon’s Cutting Dynamics partners with Lorain County Community College in apprenticeship program leveraging the State’s TechCred funding

Cutting Dynamics, an Avon metal fabrication and precision machining company, has long considered Lorain County Community College a partner. From attending job fairs to hosting meetings on campus, the company’s human resource manager, Angela Carpenter, says the college has a “constant presence.”

Now, the company’s partnership with LCCC runs even deeper as Cutting Dynamics enters its second year of a new apprenticeship program, leveraging the State of Ohio’s TechCred offering. TechCred provides funding for employers to upskill their workforce and LCCC is a state-recognized training provider with programs and credentials in information technology, engineering, healthcare, and manufacturing.

Cutting Dynamics is putting the funds toward a CNC Machining apprenticeship program.

“We wanted additional educational enrichment for our employees and TechCred is a wonderful opportunity for a return on the investment,” Carpenter says. “We had employees already going to the college on their own, but we wanted to give them an organized program to attend, to enrich their already vast mechanical knowledge.”

Cody Gibson, 35, has worked at Cutting Dynamics for nearly 20 years, starting even before he graduated from the Lorain County JVS with a certificate in precision machining. Since then, Gibson, who lives in Oberlin, has advanced from a teenage general laborer to his current role as CNC setup and operator.

“My job entails setting up different processes on various machinery to get a completed product, ranging from medical to aerospace to automotive,” Gibson says.

Two decades in the industry certainly makes Gibson a seasoned employee, but he says the apprenticeship program has expanded his skillset even more, introducing him to AutoCAD, mechanical drawing, and industrial blueprint reading. The program has also given Gibson insight into the methodology behind some of the tasks he was already doing.

“A lot of classes are directly applicable to what I’m doing every day,” Gibson says. “Being shown how to do something on the job is different than learning the reasons why those steps are in place.”

Meticulous correlation between course curriculum and work-based tasks is a hallmark of LCCC’s apprenticeship programs. And once Gibson and his fellow apprentices complete the program and reach journeyperson status, their career possibilities broaden.

“It’s an advancement from the normal machining path. It’s another level,” Carpenter says. “The apprenticeship path has more steps, but it allows them to open up their options—to be foremen, to be supervisors, to be trainers. It opens up a heck of a lot of doors that might have been a little harder to open otherwise.”

Gibson, a husband and father of two, has his sights set on becoming a trainer one day. And while adding the apprenticeship coursework to his already-demanding work and home life has been hard, seeing the value added every day has provided short-term goals that make the long-term goal of journeyperson status seem more attainable. And he says the entire process has been made easier by a supportive employer and an attentive LCCC advisor in Michelle Pawlak.

“It’s extremely helpful having an advisor guide you through the process, especially because I’m an older student,” Gibson says.

LCCC advisors make a point to meet with students while at work or on campus, making the most of their time and streamlining the admissions and registration processes. The visits include delivering textbooks and course materials onsite. Carpenter says it is a small benefit, with big impact.

“Our employees are working ten-hour shifts and raising families,” she says. “Not having to do those extra little errands means so much. It’s more than just, ‘Hey, here’s your book.’ It’s part of their commitment to a team process.”

Cassandra Tenorio, program developer for LCCC Business Growth Services, says the department strives to meet the needs of local employers and their employees by adapting their processes to meet them where they are.

“The Business Growth Services staff is always ready and willing to help our employers navigate their training needs and funding streams to support those needs,” Tenorio says. “And with State initiatives like TechCred, the opportunities are endless.”

Carpenter agrees. And she’s so confident in this first program’s success that she’s already exploring those endless opportunities, including launching more apprenticeship programs with LCCC.

“It’s only going to continue to grow from here,” Carpenter says. “We have other pathways that that we would like to open up based on the interests of some of our workers. We will open those pathways, and we will continue to grow.”

Manufacturing employers interested in learning more about TechCred at LCCC may contact workforce@lorainccc.edu.