NEWS RELEASE
| For release: Immediately | |
| Date: September 3, 2003 |
AW North Carolina Gives $35,000
to North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation
RALEIGH- AW North Carolina has given $35,000 to the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation.
The announcement comes jointly from Tsutomu Ishikawa, President of AW North Carolina; Dwight Allen., chair of the Board of Directors of the Foundation; and H. Martin Lancaster, President of the North Carolina Community College System
Representatives of the organizations gathered in Raleigh Wednesday, September 3 for the naming of a conference room in honor of the gift. Also representing AW North Carolina were Dick Ikuma, Executive Coordinator of Administration, and Will Collins, General Manager of Human Resources,
The AW North Carolina Conference Room adjoins President Lancaster's office on the first floor of the Caswell Building, headquarters for the System Office.
Lancaster said in accepting the contribution, "Our partnership with AW North Carolina is based on trust and a strong commitment to quality. We are pleased to honor AW North Carolina today by dedicating this conference room to such a fine company and we recognize your strong corporate leadership. We are grateful for your contribution to our Foundation that will be used for our system to continue to provide world-class workforce education and training in North Carolina." Allen added his thanks, welcoming AW North Carolina to the Foundation donors.
Ishikawa said, "North Carolina and its community colleges have been very cooperative with us. Coming here was a very good choice."
In 1998 Aisin AW, the world’s number one manufacturer of automatic transmissions, decided to locate a manufacturing facility in Treyburn Industrial Park in Durham. The North Carolina Community College System and Durham Technical Community College partnered with AW North Carolina to develop a customized training program to meet their workforce development needs.
AW North Carolina invested more than $100 million to build a 316,000-plus square foot facility and employed 250 production workers in semi-skilled and skilled manufacturing job as machine operators, maintenance technicians and manufacturing production team members. Through the Durham Technical Community College New and Expanding Industry Training Project with AW North Carolina, key production positions were targeted and for recruiting and specialized training.
A core group of production team leaders, newly hired North Carolinians, were sent to Japan to learn the production processes and quality concepts.
In January of 2002, AW North Carolina announced plans for a major expansion at the Treyburn campus. This expansion would include a separate 430,000-square-foot facility at an estimated cost of $160 million with plans to hire 450 additional team members.
Again, the North Carolina Community College System and Durham Technical Community College partnered with AW North Carolina to develop a customized training program that includes: targeted selection training, Leadership, Safety, Japanese Cultural Training, New Hire Technical Training, Production Technician Training and CNC Training.
This NEIT Project also included support to send about 40 front-line supervisors/instructors to Japan to be trained as manufacturing instructors and to develop training guides and procedures. Upon returning to North Carolina, these front-line supervisors are ready to train new production workers.
The North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation was formed in 1986 to help sustain the mission and programs of the North Carolina Community College System. After several dormant years, the Foundation was reorganized in 1998 under the leadership of H. Martin Lancaster, President of the North Carolina Community College. The board members now include top leadership from business and industry, philanthropy, education and government.
Since 1998, the Foundation has raised more than $6 million in for a permanent endowment and for special projects including among others workforce preparation for targeted industries; expansion of the community college role in teacher preparation; outreach to North Carolina's Hispanic community and statewide recognition for outstanding community college faculty, staff and students.
The North Carolina Community College System, with almost 800,000 students, is recognized internationally as a top provider of workforce education and training. The System includes 58 comprehensive community colleges and the North Carolina Center for Applied Textile Technology. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the legislation establishing the comprehensive community college system.
For details about the work between AW North Carolina and North Carolina's community colleges, contact Susan Seymour at the North Carolina Community College System, 919-733-7051 ext. 426. For information about the activities of North Carolina's community colleges, contact Audrey Bailey at 919-733-7051 ext. 302.
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