The company’s apprentices get full pay and benefits, as well as an education at Sinclair Community College.
“It’s the gold standard,” said Dan Foley, of the Dayton Foundation’s Employers Workforce Coalition.
“This is best in show,” was how Joe Sciabica, who is executive director of that coalition, described the program.
In July 2024, United Grinding leaders spoke with the Dayton Daily News after the company signed its second class of apprentices, welcoming four young people to the company with full pay and benefits, as well as training at Sinclair.
The apprentices were selected from more than 60 applicants that year — applicants ready to earn $19.50 to learn to cut metal to minute tolerances, read schematics, assemble and repair grinding machines.
This year, some 150 applicants applied to the program’s four openings, United Grinding officials said.
They receive company benefits, including 30 days paid time off each year and a 401(k) account. The company covers their Sinclair tuition and expenses, including books.
They also sign four-year contracts to work for United Grinding.
“I wish a lot of other companies would do the same thing, because it’s not hard,” United Grinding North America President and CEO Markus Stolmar said. “You just have to do it.”
Husted’s visit was meant to highlight the importance of private-sector leadership in building a workforce.
“At first, I didn’t love the travel, but it’s really grown on me lately,” United Grinding mechanics apprentice Owen Johantges told Husted. “It’s nice to really see the world, to see the U.S.”
Greg Knox, CEO of Franklin’s Knox Manufacturing Solutions (the former Knox Machinery), told Husted that Ohio’s TechCred program was gamechanger for him, reimbursing his business for the training of apprentices.
The program saves Knox costs that once reached $26,000 per apprentice.
“It’s really making a difference,” said.
“That’s why we do it,” Husted replied to Knox. “The goal is twofold: It gives businesses the talent they need to succeed. But it also gives the individual the skills, the portable skills ... for more job security, for higher earnings potential, all of those things.”
United Grinding has about 80 employees in its 110,000-square-foot plant off Austin Boulevard. This company sells, services and distributes CNC (computer numeric control) grinding machines across North America, many of which are made in Germany and Switzerland.
Customers range from GE Aerospace to tiny machine shops with only a few workers.
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