Six administrative representatives from Toyota visited the Golden Triangle Campus of East Mississippi Community College on Wednesday to explore training opportunities offered by the college. Lyle “Mark” Daugherty, manager of human resources; Mark Finch, assistant manager for human resources; Dana Marshall, specialist for human resources; Ken Kreafle, general manager, production engineering; and Dennis Dio Parker, assistant manager, North American Production Support Center, met with EMCC faculty and staff before touring the campus and the Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence.

EMCC is part of the Mississippi Corridor Consortium consisting of three colleges including Ittawamba Community College and Northeast Mississippi Community College, pledged to provide training for incoming Toyota employees.

“We wanted to visit EMCC and identify the college’s training strengths,” said Daugherty. “We want to work with each of the community colleges and utilize the best training offerings from each.”

The group toured many of EMCC’s career and technical training departments, visiting extensively with program instructors. During the visit, members of the group identified Toyota’s training needs and discussed ways EMCC could provide that training. Employees with multiple technical skills were the focus.

“When the production phase begins we will be looking for hands-on, multi-skilled technicians,” said Parker.

“We are committed to training our instructors in the processes utilized by Toyota so they can educate our students for the job opportunities that will become available in the upcoming years,” said EMCC Vice President for Workforce Services, Dr. Raj Shaunak. “We are very exited about the modern manufacturing industries locating in our area and this will present tremendous opportunities, high wages, and local employment to the residents of the EMCC district.”



This article was submitted by East

Mississippi Community College.