SEWELL, NJ, December 21, 2015 – The Christie Administration congratulated graduates of the Certified Production Technician (CPT) Training Program at a ceremony held today at Rowan College at Gloucester County. The program provides long-term unemployed and underemployed individuals with manufacturing skills and hands-on experience, including site visits to potential employers. The program was launched in 2013 in partnership with the New Jersey Community College Consortium.

Kellogg’s has offered employment to the entire class of graduates. Seventeen of today’s graduates will begin work at Kellogg’s production facility in Blue Anchor in January. One of the graduates accepted a job offer elsewhere.

“We could not ask for a better success story,” said New Jersey Labor Commissioner Harold J. Wirths. “This program continues to yield great results because we are investing training dollars in industry sectors that are growing here in the Garden State and we are guided by the needs of New Jersey employers. The fact that Kellogg’s has offered to hire all of today’s graduates really speaks to the value of these skills.”

The graduates underwent a demanding program involving approximately 150 hours of classroom and hands-on training. All of the graduates have earned industry-recognized, nationally-portable credentials from the Manufacturing Skills Standard Council in Safety, Quality & Continuous Improvement, Process & Production and Maintenance. Today’s graduation represents the eighth class of CPT graduates. To date, the program has trained 90 individuals with an 84 percent job placement rate.

“New Jersey's manufacturers and community colleges together have been solving the ‘skills gap’ issues for over three years through jointly developing training programs that directly create dependable and stable local workforce, contributing to improving regional and state economies,” said Sivaraman Anbarasan, Executive Director of the New Jersey Community College Consortium for Workforce & Economic Development. “Our Metal Fabrication using CNC and Certified Production Technician training programs have been widely embraced by businesses ranging from food to medical device manufacturing. These programs lead to national credentials for the new workers and also articulate to college credits towards career pathway certificate and associate degree programs. We thank NJLWD for having the vision to initially fund this initiative and continue to support it over the years.”

Last week, the Metal Product/CNC Manufacturing program held a graduation ceremony at Camden County College where 9 graduates earned National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) Certification for Measurement, Materials, and Safety Level I. Last week’s graduation marked the 17th class of graduates from that program. More than 210 individuals have been trained in metal fabrication with an 87 percent job placement rate.

For more information about the on the Certified Production Technician and Metal Product/CNC Manufacturing programs please go to www.njworkforce.org.                                             

Department of Labor Chief of Staff Gary Hasenbalg (back right, blue tie) poses with
graduates of the Certified Production Technician training program. All 18 graduates
were offered a job a Kellogg’s in Blue Anchor.

Department of Labor Chief of Staff Gary Hasenbalg, who spoke at the graduation ceremony,
credited the program’s success to the involvement of businesses in the training process
and its focus on teaching skills identified as valuable by employers.