Pride
Community, Business & Industry
Building a strong workforce Heather Mullinix/Chronicle
Jake Kinney is enrolled in the new commercial driving training program, offered through the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Crossville with the support of TLD Logistics. It’s one of the many programs TCAT of Crossville offers with area industries to ensure a highly trained workforce.
TCAT offers skilled workforce, training By Heather Mullinix Chronicle assistant editor
A
qualified and skilled workforce is crucial for a community looking to expand job opportunities. In Cumberland County, the re-named Tennessee College of Applied Technology offers that critical training not only for students seeking to enter a particular field, but specialized training developed for a particular industry or industry partner. “For years, the assumption was that you had to attend a college to get a good job. The name change from Tennessee Technology Center to Tennessee College of Applied Technology better reflects our mission to offer another option to train for a great job,” explained Cliff Wightman, marketing and industrial training coordinator for TCAT in Crossville.
Community partners
“Part of our mission is working with
industries to provide the specialized training they need for their own employees,” he said. He pointed to specialized training offered to long-time Cumberland County industries who needed to train working on new equipment or new software in order to keep the facility upto-date. “We have access to different materials and the latest trends in industry,” he explained. “We’re usually equipped to handle any request an industry may have.” That includes offering the community continuing education, such as with a Spanish class Wightman hopes to announce soon. “There are many businesses and industries, anywhere that works with the public, may have a need for some practical training,” Wightman said. It can be a cost-effective way for businesses, or individuals, to add new skills because the college is a nonprofit entity. TCAT not only partners with local
businesses, but it also partners with local governments and nonprofit agencies. The special projects, such as renovating the Palace Theatre or machining new parts and bringing the Cumberland County Courthouse Clock back to working condition, offer invaluable hands-on training for students and a chance help the community. “It also helps to establish those contacts in the community,” Wightman said. “In the end, those are the people who are going to hire our graduates.” One program born out of a partnership between the school, the local government and a local business is the new commercial truck driving course, which began in the fall. The program is a collaborative effort between TCAT and TLD Logistics, which has its largest terminal located in Crossville’s Interchange Business Park off Hwy. 127 N. Wightman said it had long been a goal of the school to offer such a program, but the school faced financial and logistics
challenges in offering such a program. There was a need for a tractor-trailer rig to be on the school site and there needed to be space to practice the driving skills. TLD, like many trucking companies, needed a supply of trained and qualified new drivers to fill the growing demand. Crossville and Cumberland County is in a great location to position and market itself as a transportation hub, with easy access to Interstate 40, connecting to I-75 and I-65. Across the country, the field of commercial driving is expected to grow by 21 percent by 2020, with companies adding 40,000 new jobs in the past year. The training process is relatively quick and job placement high, but students in the Upper Cumberland were having to drive several hours away to attend a program. TLD approached TCAT and offered to help supply the tractor-trailers needed, and the city of Crossville offered a spot See training page 2C
a special supplement to the
CROSSVILLE CHRONICLE