Incumbent worker training grants support apprentices at Grob
Oct. 1—BLUFFTON — An apprenticeship program at Grob Systems received $30,000 in incumbent worker training grant funding from Ohio Means Jobs in Allen and Hancock counties, which will support three months of the company's electrical and mechanical training for second-year apprentices.
Grob has trained more than 400 apprentices in Bluffton since 1990, including 112 apprentices who are working through the four-year program today.
Apprentices start with intensive technical training away from the plant floor, gradually earning opportunities to spend time on the floor with skilled technicians in their second year.
By their third and fourth years, apprentices are assigned to a department where they can learn more specialized skills, said Mark Reed, an apprentice training supervisor for Grob.
The program is competitive: While trainees are not required to have technical skills before their first year, Grob receives roughly 100 applications each year, Reed said. The company has retained some 60% of its apprentices since the program started 30 years ago.
"The idea of apprenticeship is ingrained in the culture," Reed said. "It's something that isn't a question of do we do it, it's an absolute necessity."
The Allen and Hancock Ohio Means Jobs offices have supported Grob's apprenticeship program with incumbent worker training grants in 2019 and 2021 to help the company recruit, train and retain employees.
"It's a problem all over, not just Northwest Ohio but the U.S.—making sure the labor force is as skilled as possible to compete in today's world," said Randall Galbraith, executive director of Ohio Means Jobs Hancock County.
The partnership supports Grob as it trains apprentices, who in turn "grow with the organization," said Joe Patton, executive director of Ohio Means Jobs Allen County. "It's training workers who are upskilling themselves in a skill that's beneficial to the company."
