Ashland County West Holmes Career Center RAMTEC program offers many certifications

ASHLAND - Opportunities abound for people who are willing to work, and the hard-working students in the RAMTEC program at the Ashland County West Holmes Career Center are stepping into productive careers.

RAMTEC stands for Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Collaborative. Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Instructor Jim Simmering explained how the program is working for the students who are willing to do the work.

The ACWHCC RAMTEC program offers 65 welding qualification certifications, along with robotics and other certifications, as well as fluid power, electrical and manual machining.

"After two years in the program, the students have a wide range of learning and so many different avenues they can go toward," Simmering said. "We get weekly calls from employers hunting for student workers. You can't drive far down the road without seeing signs of businesses hiring. They can go into tool and die, electrical maintenance, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) planner/operator."

Simmering graduated from a vocational program in high school and credits his diversified background for his ability to impart his wisdom to his students. More than a dozen RAMTEC alumni and current students are working at numerous manufacturers around the Ashland, Wayne and Holmes County areas.

Schaeffler in Wooster, other businesses have apprentice programs

Many businesses offer further education and training beyond college.

Brett Carnegie is a junior at the Career Center who is working as an apprentice at Schaeffler in Wooster. He hopes to follow the program through where he can earn a master's degree in engineering.

"I knew a couple people from Loudonville who came through this program who liked it. I came up here for a couple visits, open house and things like that and I really liked the atmosphere," Carnegie said. "I really liked the CNC machines and all the robotics. That got me interested.

"I've got an apprenticeship at Schaeffler, and hopefully this summer, I will get more into the CNC stuff I've learned here, so I'll be further ahead," he added. "Everything I'm learning here between the welding and all the different machines, is giving me a great opportunity at Schaeffler."

Simmering pointed out that Carnegie will earn up to 14 college credits through his training in the RAMTEC program.

"Some students come out with 1,000 hours or so towards their 8,000-hour apprenticeship," he said. "They actually start full time when they graduate."

Schaeffler tool and die apprenticeship instructor a product of the program

Tommy Guidetti, tool and die apprenticeship instructor at Schaeffler, is a product of the Career Center program and sees the great value of developing relationships between the two.

"We get students out of the Ashland County and Wayne County RAMTEC programs," Guidetti said. "We have five different apprenticeship programs. It's not just the machinists coming out of RAMTEC, we've got the CNC planner apprenticeship for optimizing production lines, and mechanical maintenance and electrical maintenance programs. Those deal more with robotics programing. The RAMTEC program encompasses four of our five programs right there."

Guidetti explained that Schaeffler has had a heavy presence in the Wayne County Career Center over the past 20 years or so. working with the engineering programs, the machinists programs, as well as the line tech programs and ag-mechanics and electronics.

"We've always had a really good presence, and when Wayne County added the RAMTEC program, we were one of the companies that came in and told them this is what we're looking for as in industry, and if you can provide us students, we can hire them right now,' he said. "It's a great opportunity. I started right out of the Career Center like a lot of these kids, and I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for the apprenticeship programs.

"Our biggest shining stars are graduates of these RAMTEC programs," Guidetti added. "Anytime the career centers ask me if I want to come in and talk, I can't get over there fast enough."

Guidetti said he and Simmering are going to begin holding signing days for students who enter into the apprenticeship programs, because they feel that getting into an apprenticeship is just as important as getting a scholarship to college.

"We're setting these young people up for absolute success," Guidetti said. "I've got 20-year-old men and women in our program who are buying houses, they've got brand new cars, savings accounts and no student debt. They're setting their lives up five, six years before a college graduate would."

Ashland County West Holmes Career Center RAMTEC program offers hands-on training

Colin Hillman is a junior in the RAMTEC program. He said he enjoys the hands-on learning aspect of the program. He hopes to go to work in the family business, a CNC machine shop his grandfather started 30 years ago.

"It is hard to learn this trade out of a book," he said. "The physical aspect of working on a project, seeing the step-by-step process and the progression as we move along."

The students enjoy working each day through the process and seeing their projects through to completion.

Simmering added that RAMTEC and other career center programs begin recruiting students as early as sixth grade, holding various introductory events to get the kids in the door to show them what is available at ACWHCC.

"We plant the seed early in sixth grade, and bring them back in the eighth grade and again in ninth and 10th," Simmering said. "The students in our programs come in and show what they've learned and help spark interest."

The instructor pointed out that the high cost of college can be offset by learning a trade and having that as an alternative option. There is not necessarily a job for every degree earned coming out of college.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Ashland County West Holmes Career Center RAMTEC program breeds success