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Friday, June
13, 2003
PK USA and Blue
River Stamping get grants
NEWS staff report
Indiana Department
of Commerce grants targeting workers who have non-transferable,
obsolete job skills will help employees at two local companies.
They now have the opportunity to be retrained and stay on.
Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan announced five central Indiana companies this week as
grant recipients. Included in the list of recipients were two Shelbyville
companies which specialize in metal stamping and automotive assembly
parts.
Blue River Stamping Inc. received $14,075, and PK USA received $70,000.
Retraining programs help mid-career workers adapt to changes in technology
and the economy, economic development officials say.
PK USA plans to retrain 405 employees in such areas as English as a Second
Language, welding, robotics and programmable logic controllers.
State funding will help the company stay competitive in today’s market,
said Bill Kent, PK USA’s vice president of human resources and
administrative affairs.
Blue River Stamping intends to retrain 59 employees, along with two new
ones. The company intends to train employees in English as a Second
Language, welding, manufacturing processes, programmable logic controllers
and other quality-control procedures.
Bill Kent serves as vice president of human resources and administrative
affairs at both PK USA and Blue River Stamping.
“We are very excited to receive this Commerce funding. As we invest in
our most important and vital resource, which is people, we remain
committed to our training initiatives.
“We feel this grant is very important to us and it’s important to our
people, especially considering 54 percent of our workforce comes from
Shelby County and this grant will help train them in this very competitive
automotive market,” he said.
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