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PLANT|NEWS Conger Toyotalift receives top company award c o u r tes y o f fvtc Fox Valley Technical College partners up with high schools F ox Valley Technical College paired up with five regional high schools in an effort to meet the skills gap in the manufacturing industry by enacting the Machine Tool Career Jumpstart initiative, a new program that will encourage students to pursue careers in manufacturing. The five schools are: Appleton East, Appleton West, Brillion High School, Little Chute High School and New London High School. The program was introduced on April 30 at Fox Valley Technical College and is meant to offer high school Calco producing agricultural equipment As part of a new product development process that began in 2011, the C.A. Lawton Co., or Calco, completed qualification and is now in full production with its first major agricultural equipment manufacturing customer. Calco will have the flexibility to machine the casting produced in its foundry operation 26 | / insight on manufacturing • July 2013 students transcripted credit machine tool courses, giving them a head start toward a career in manufacturing by offering classes that earn high school and college credits at the same time. More than 1,100 full-time machinist positions were available in the New North region since the beginning of the year, according to the 2013 Manufacturing Vitality Index published by the Northeast Wisconsin (NEW) Manufacturing Alliance. Ninety-eight percent of FVTC's Tool Technician graduates in the past three years found jobs. F either onsite or in its centerline facility. "This is a significant piece of business for us because it so thoroughly utilizes our capabilities and touches on so many of our strategic priorities," says Alex Lawton, CEO. "It's in the agricultural market, it involved substantial collaboration around new product development, and it's an integrated offering in that we provide castings, paint, and machining." Conger Toyotalift of Neenah was awarded the Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A., Inc. (TMHU) President's Award for 2012. Conger Toyotalift is one of 15 companies receiving this award. "Toyota's President's Awards recognize dealers that clearly exemplify top quality service, support and dedication to their customers," says Jeff Rufener, president of TMHU. "Dealers like Conger Toyotalift set the bar for industry excellence." The company was recognized at Toyota's Annual Dealer Meeting for demonstrating excellence in parts, service, equipment sales, customer satisfaction and overall dealership operations. This is the sixth time Conger Toyotalift has received this award or its predecessor, the Quality Dealer Award. Worthington consolidates to Chilton Plant Worthington Industries, Inc., a Columbus, Ohio-based diversified metals manufacturing company, will consolidate its Medina, N.Y., BernzOmatic hand torch manufacturing operation into its existing Chilton facility. The consolidation will reduce freight costs and maximize available capacity at the Chilton facility, where the company already manufactures BernzOmatic hand torch fuel cylinders. The New York plant is expected to close by mid-2014. Worthington, which currently employs 174 people at the New York operation, gave the workers the option to transfer to the Chilton facility. Employees who will not continue with Worthington will receive continued > w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g .c o m