Reprinted with permission from
The Courier=Times Online

Since before the formal announcement was made this week, Piedmont Community College has been gearing up to train Personians to work in the new Force Protection Inc. plant, which will be located in the former Collins & Aikman Elm Plant.

Debra Seamster, director of the college’s Industry Training Services, said Friday that the college was “very excited to be able to assist with a project of this magnitude.” Force Protection, which announced Thursday that it had purchased the C&A Elm Plant, also indicated that it plans to employ about 270 people initially. It will use the Roxboro location for the production of its Cheetah, an eight-ton Humvee-type, four-wheel-drive vehicle with lightweight armor composites and blast-deflecting technology.

Seamster said the college had so far communicated with the company via e-mail and a few telephone calls. She expects to soon “sit down and iron out what their needs are.”

Because the company will create more than 12 jobs in the community, Seamster explained, it qualifies for New Industry Training funds that are appropriated by the North Carolina General Assembly and funneled to community colleges through the state’s Commerce Department and the community college system office in Raleigh.

She said the college could write a plan to provide up to three years of training for Force Protection workers. Training dollars are allocated based on a formula the state sets, Seamster explained. The formula takes into account the number of jobs, the average salary of workers, the company’s capital investment in the area, the type of training needed, and the portability of skills that will be taught. Seamster said PCC would be concentrating heavily on teaching welding skills for Force Protection. As for the location of training or who will be doing it, she said, there is flexibility in those areas. “It will be at the discretion of the company,”

Seamster said, as to where the training will take place, either at the plant, at the college, or at a third-party site. She said the company would also choose “who’s the most qualified to do the training, whether it’s someone from their [Ladson] South Carolina plant, someone from the college or from outside.”

Workforce training funds, Seamster said, allow for salary reimbursement and other expenses directly related to training potential employees. She said the rough estimate for training workers for Force Protection is about $1,200 per employee. Seamster said it was “an exciting time” for the college, adding that she and PCC look forward to assisting in the county’s latest economic development.