The Value of Partnership through Training

The Kern County Sheet Metal Workers’ Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committee (JATC) sponsored an 8-hour training course on the operation of Trimble’s Robotic Total Station (RTS) Series 873 Equipment on Saturday September 3rd 2016. The class was hosted at the Southern California Sheet Metal Workers state-of-the-art training facility located in the city of Industry California.

Trimble is a pioneer in the use of advanced Global Positioning (GPS) Technology providing reliable, accurate solutions and improving productivity in a wide range of construction jobs, and Sheet Metal Workers typically use the technology deployed in Trimble’s Field Link Software to locate and layout HVAC duct hanger-insert locations during the construction and/or remodel of buildings.

The class size was deliberately kept small with only 7 students to better ensure that each student was given quality hands-on practice with the equipment. The training was organized at the request of company representatives with Southland Industries Inc., a leading Southern California based MEP firm who will soon be employing a dozen or so Sheet Metal Workers out of the satellite training center of SMART Local Union 105, located in city of Bakersfield California.

Southland will be installing the HVAC system of the new $100.5 million Kern County Justice Facility in Bakersfield. As part of the design-build team on the project, Southland has committed to utilizing lean construction practices and the latest technologies to efficiently deliver the facility. With the fees for hands-on training from Trimble certified training centers scarcely located around the country being horribly cost prohibitive, the company was able to call on its training partner…SMART Local Union 105, to put together the “on-demand” class on a holiday weekend with very little effort. The best part is that the training costs to the company and it’s employees was zero…it was completely free.

“I received a call last week asking me what it would take to make this class happen” says JATC Training Coordinator Will Scott, who was in attendance at the class. With the costs of industry training already built into the wage package that they pay their sheet metal workers, I simply reminded the company of the true value of our labor-management partnership. “It’s their job to get awarded the projects, and its our job to make sure they have the highly trained workforce to get the projects done. Its what we do best”.