ORCMT
SUCCESS STORY
 
COMPANY/LOCATION: A&S Building Systems, Caryville, Tennessee
PRODUCT: Manufactured steel buildings
YEARS IN BUSINESS: 30 (20 in current location) 
EMPLOYEES: 200 
 
SITUATION:    A&S Building Systems was looking for an industrial training program to prepare one of the company's employees as a personal computer technician to troubleshoot and repair the company's computers. After hearing of such a class being offered at the Manufacturing Skills Campus of the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology, A&S contacted the Skills Campus and enrolled the employee in the PC class
 
PROJECT:       The initial class for the A&S employee was very successful and later resulted in the employee enrolling in an advanced PC troubleshooting class and still later in a PC networking class, all taught at the Skills Campus by highly skilled personal computer technicians.
 
RESULTS:       The company has been very pleased with the result of the training their employee received at the Skills Campus. Because of that training, the employee is now able to provide technical support for a wide array of computer work at the company and is using his newly acquired knowledge and skills to install a computer network in the company's new building. Additionally, A&S will be linked by a UNIX computer system to other companies owned by its parent company in Houston, Texas. The employee's training through the Skills Campus has allowed the transition from a mainframe to a PC network to go more smoothly. 

A&S rated their project with the Skills Campus as "excellent" and said that it allowed the retention of two jobs. The project also helped the company save as much as $40,000 in avoided costs and reduced production costs, increased sales by an estimated $200,000, and avoided sales losses of up to $500,000 all over a two-year period. 

Mark Massey, manager of computer technology services at A&S, said that the training through the Skills Campus "exceeded any expectation we had. It was just what we had been looking for in a training class. There was no fluff in this class; it was all useful information and skills." 
 
PARTNERS: 
  

 
Technical assistances provided to the private sector by the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology (ORCMT) and its manufacturing extension partners throughout the United States. 
 
 
For information or assistance, call the Manufacturing Technology Information Service at 1-800-356-4USA  or visit the
ORCMT Home Page.