Plastics Process Technician Apprenticeship Program Elevates Injection Molding Industry Workforce

The American Injection Molding Institute (AIM), a subsidiary of Beaumont Technologies, held the graduation ceremony for the second class of students to graduate from the Pennsylvania state-registered Plastics Process Technician Apprenticeship at the Erie-based Manufacturer and Business Association. There are currently two other classes in progress, AIM says, with another class scheduled to start in the fall of 2022. Clarion University, the Keystone Community Educational Council (KCEC) and the AIM Institute are providing the education and training for the program, with a focus on plastics injection molding.

Elissa Reitz, corporate training manager at the Plastek Group says she has seen incredible improvement in the employees that have gone through the program. “As we’re all aware, it has been extremely difficult to identify and hire top technical talent. Through Keystone Community Education Council’s two-year Apprenticeship Program, working with training providers from the AIM Institute, PMI and Clarion University, we’ve been able to ‘build’ that talent in-house. The skills and ambitions of our employees have surpassed our expectations. Our employees have become more than technicians, but super-users who are closer in skill to engineers than many of our technicians, with the added benefit of leadership skills that they get from the classes. Because of the apprenticeship program, we have a steady stream of qualified technical personnel being shaped right here at Plastek.”

Clarion, KCEC and the AIM Institute collaborated with twelve plastic manufacturers to develop the program’s curriculum. The program includes more than 340 hours of classroom and hands-on learning, coupled with 4,000 hours of on-the-job training. Courses include: OSHA-30 (includes certification), Plastic Materials, Math Courses, Molding Courses, etc.

“Our program’s combination of hands-on experience and classroom learning provided by AIM and Clarion is tailored to the exact needs of the injection molders in our region,” says John Beaumont, founder and executive director of AIM. “Our local plastics industry has been asking for training like this for years, and we are excited to be one of the educational institutions leading the change to advance manufacturing in our area.”

According to the AIM Institute, organizations that send their employees through this training may also be eligible for a significant reimbursement through funding from the Greater Ohio-Pennsylvania Manufacturing Apprenticeship Network (Oh-Penn), the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and the Workforce and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania (WEDnetPA).

Local companies including Port Erie Plastics, Viking Plastics, The Plastek Group and George Ko Industries, are just a few of the companies that have participated in this program in the last couple of years. Heather Evans, human resources at Port Erie Plastics, believes an advantage of this program is the ability for an employee to advance in their career.

“Not only does the employee have the potential of increased income, but they come out of the program with credits towards an Associates’ degree from Clarion University,” Evans says. “We are proud to be able to promote from within and we hope to have the added benefit of the employee being proud of their own hard work accomplishments.”

Evans reminiscences on one of their first employees to take some of AIM Institute’s offered courses. “We started with the first Cohort and our employee was from our maintenance department. At first, he questioned why he was even part of the program, but by the end, he found the program to be invaluable because it gave him the opportunity to work well with our processors and gain a new skillset that made him a big asset to our company.  He was also exposed to OSHA30 and leadership skills, which only makes for a better employee and company.”

Companies interested in learning more about the Plastics Process Technician Apprenticeship Program, or wanting to be placed on the contact list for the next program beginning in Ffll 2022, can contact Lance Hummer, executive director of the Keystone Community Educational Council, at 814-677-4427 or lhummer@keystonecec.org.