IVCCD board approves Lennox job training agreement

T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM
Iowa Valley Community College District Board of Directors President Larry Johnson listens to a report of a proposed training agreement with Lennox. The board held its regular meeting on Wednesday.

A jobs training agreement with Lennox was approved by the Iowa Valley Community College District (IVCCD) Board of Directors during the regular meeting on Wednesday.

The agreement is a Community College Consortium program through Iowa Workforce Development. The program will help Lennox train employees with new skills through Marshalltown Community College (MCC). MCC staff will determine training needs before providing and determine whether funds are available.

Val Ruff with the Iowa Valley Business Solutions and Economic Development said this is the seventh grant IVCCD has received from the state.

“We’re really excited about this,” she told the board.

Ruff said it has taken a while to move the agreement forward with Lennox and added there was a separate one after the 2018 tornado.

She wanted to bring a couple things to the attention of the board members. First, Ruff said Lennox has an internal apprenticeship program.

“They were needing to do some updating to get them training for the apprenticeship program,” she said.

Ruff said six students from two different Lennox shifts went to MCC. The students are working with the college’s staff on the tool and die training. Tool and die involves crafting and maintenance of precision tools and dies necessary for manufacturing. That training began in February and will be completed this week.

“That’s kind of nice to have them come out, and work on training right here on campus,” she said.

The other training Ruff said the board members might be interested in is customized weld training, which is a welding specialty. She said the welding is very unique to Lennox. Ruff said it took a while, but MCC found an instructor — Jeff Mitchell — to learn the process. In order to do that, she said Mitchell went to Lennox and worked on the factory floor.

“He was telling me this is such a specialized training, he told me he had done it two times, and he’s been welding for 25 years,” Ruff said.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

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