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The Manufacturing Institute Announces Samsung As Founding Sponsor of Servicemember Training Program
11/16/2018
Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Manufacturing Institute has announced Samsung will be the Founding Sponsor in its Heroes MAKE America servicemember training program. The investment—the largest in the program to date—will significantly bolster the continued expansion of the Heroes program. This investment will support over 4,000 program graduates across 7 U.S. military bases by 2021. The announcement was made at a Celebration of Veterans luncheon reception at Fort Hood in Texas to recognize the service of our nation’s military members. The event also highlighted the accomplishments of the soldiers who have registered for or graduated from the Heroes program.
“Manufacturing has about half a million open jobs and needs skilled workers to fill them, and every year, about 200,000 service members return home with just the kind of skills and experience that would make perfect additions to nearly any shop floor,” said Carolyn Lee, executive director of The Manufacturing Institute. “Manufacturing careers are great opportunities for veterans to find their next calling and join a new mission, and thanks to today’s generous investment by Samsung, The Manufacturing Institute’s Heroes MAKE America program will be able to grow further and help ensure even more of our returning service members have the ability to do so. We are very grateful to Samsung for making such an impactful investment in such an important program.”
“As a company with a Korean heritage, Samsung has always been grateful for the incredible sacrifices made by the U.S. military during the Korean War. Without American support on the battlefield, the Korea of today would not exist, and neither would Samsung,” said Tim Baxter, President & CEO of Samsung Electronics America. “As Samsung creates technology to improve and enhance the lives for our customers, we are committed to investing resources that improve the lives of veterans and military families. With the Heroes MAKE America program, we are combining our values of a strong, qualified workforce with our commitment to serving American veterans and military members.”
Heroes MAKE America is a full-time, Department of Defense approved SkillBridge program aimed at closing the manufacturing skills gap by training our transitioning service members with critical skills and placing them on a path toward a rewarding manufacturing career. The program arms transitioning service members with in-demand qualifications and industry-specific certifications needed for today’s manufacturing workforce. Manufacturers highly value the core elements of military training that allow America’s soldiers to be the best in the world. The teamwork, commitment to mission, communication and critical thinking skills that are essential to mission success are also essential to manufacturing success. Heroes MAKE America launched in early 2018 at Fort Riley in Kansas and was expanded to Fort Hood in Texas.
Since starting in January 2018, the program has graduated 56 soldiers year to date, who have landed hundreds of job interviews with an 85 percent placement rate into companies such as Allergan, Arconic, Cargill, DuPont, Georgia Pacific, Goodyear, Honeywell, Smithfield Foods, Spirit AeroSystems, Stratasys Direct, TUVA, Tokyo Electron, and many more. The program is on track to graduate all 99 servicemembers who have enrolled in the program during 2018.
Sponsors of Heroes MAKE America include Samsung, Arconic, Allergan, Koch, Industries, Georgia Pacific, Flint Hills Resources, Invistia, Molex, Guardian Industries, Cooper Standard Foundation, Novelis, National Gypsum, Newpark, Proctor & Gamble, Associated Equipment Distributors, National Fluid Power Association and Vinyl Siding Institute.
