FTCC's offering helped attract Cat

Gary Green, the president of Forsyth Technical Community College, is an affable man with a quick smile.

Judging from comments made at Friday's big Caterpillar announcement, he's also a tenacious salesman.

Dignitary after dignitary lauded Green and the role he played in persuading Caterpillar to build a $426 million manufacturing plant here.

"As far as I'm concerned, the main reason we are here at Forsyth Tech is because Caterpillar heard Forsyth Tech say, ‘We can do the job' and nobody else said that," said Dave Plyler, the chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. "He may be bald and he may be skinny. But Dr. Green is one tough customer."

Gov. Bev Perdue also weighed in on Green's persuasive powers.

"He's got a whole set of economic development skills and none of us knew how strong they are," Perdue said.

Green and other officials at the community college first became involved in the Caterpillar pitch in March when they showed off their campus to a man they knew only as Shawn. They had no idea what company he was with. That tour, as has been reported, stretched hours longer than expected.

Perdue said the meeting was crucial in convincing Caterpillar that it could find a skilled work force in the Triad.

"When he (Green) kept Caterpillar here all day, he didn't offer them wine and cheese," Perdue said. "He offered them good business training and promises of good education for its employees."

The plant will employ 392 full-time and 118 contract employees within five years. The bulk of the employees will be trained at Forsyth Tech.

Michael Murphy, an executive at Caterpillar, said Forsyth Tech demonstrated a willingness to be flexible in how it trained prospective employees.

"We're looking at Forsyth Tech to help us train a quality work force," he said. "These machine tools cost millions of dollars apiece and we don't want to crash them."

Green deflected the praise, instead pointing to the school's long history of working with businesses to train their work forces.

Recently, the school helped train some of Dell's employees.

The state's entire community college system has embraced customized training, said Keith Crisco, the N.C. secretary of commerce.

"It's not unique, but I think we do the best job of this in the country," Crisco said.

The customized training program includes all 58 of the state's community colleges. In fiscal year 2009-10, the program helped train 10,199 people in 183 businesses and industries, according to the N.C. Community College System.

Some of those businesses include Hanesbrands in Surry County and Nonni's Foods in Yadkin County.

Caterpillar may also have been swayed by Forsyth Tech's involvement in the Manufacturing Institute, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers that is backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Forsyth Tech is one of four community colleges in the country participating in the pilot program, which gives students a chance to learn skills in the classroom while acquiring certifications that are recognized by industry. The goal is to better prepare entry-level workers. Students in such areas as welding and machine technology will be eligible for those added credentials. They will have some of the skills that will be needed at the Caterpillar plant, which will produce axle assemblies for its big mining machines.

"We made sure Caterpillar knew we were involved in it," Green said of the Manufacturing Institute.

Jennifer McNelly, a senior vice president for the institute, said Forsyth Tech's involvement in the program was an attractive selling point.

"What it ensures for Caterpillar, and manufacturers nationally, is that individuals are coming out with real skills that they value," she said. "It's one thing to say you have a skilled work force and another thing to say we can prove it because we have strategies to bring them in and train them and give them the skills you say are important."

Sue Marion, the vice president for corporate and continuing education, said that officials from Forsyth Tech and Caterpillar will meet in the next few weeks to lay the groundwork for training.

"We can assist with recruitment and with the assessment of potential applicants," she said. "But we don't yet know what they want to do."

lo'donnell@wsjournal.com


727-7420