Home » Path available to high-skilled, high-paying jobs in Kyndle region

Path available to high-skilled, high-paying jobs in Kyndle region

logoHENDERSON, Ky. — High school seniors and recent graduates who are preparing to make higher education and career decisions should consider a path that can take them to a high-wage job for which there is strong demand among area employers.

Local industries continue to voice the need for industrial maintenance technicians in the Kyndle region. The Kyndle FAME Advance Manufacturing Technology program can provide that path by training participants to become highly skilled industrial maintenance professionals.

The Kyndle FAME program is an opportunity for recent high school graduates wanting an interesting, hands-on and well-paying career or an incumbent worker wanting to train up their skills to earn an associate’s degree in five semesters.  Students work at a sponsoring company while they learn and complete the program with little to no student debt.

The FAME model is based on the nationally noted Toyota Advanced Manufacturing Technician program. Interested Kyndle FAME applicants must be high school graduates (or equivalent) and be willing to participate in the program’s 40 hour per week, apprenticeship-style format. If selected, students will attend college two days a week while working three days a week at the sponsoring company.

“There are many high-paying positions in Advanced Manufacturing in the Kyndle region. Graduates from this program have an edge when it comes to a highly skilled career with a great salary range,” Kyndle CEO Tony Iriti said.

The program is a partnership between the Kyndle Chapter of KY FAME (Kentucky Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education), local industries, the economic development organization Kyndle and Henderson Community College.  Current employer members of the Kyndle FAME Chapter include: Air Hydro Power, Audubon Metals, Big Rivers Electric Corp., Cresline Plastic Pipe Co., Gibbs Die Casting, Hydro Aluminum, International Paper, River View Coal and Vibracoustic.

With October being Manufacturing Month, now is an excellent time to consider applying for the next Kyndle FAME class that begins in August 2018. The application deadline for the students to apply to the highly competitive program is Jan. 12, 2018.

The first Kyndle FAME class began in August. Mark Smith, the Industrial Maintenance Technician program coordinator at HCC, said attendance is running at 97 percent and reports that participants are consistently on time. He said both their public speaking and social interaction skills have improved.

“The hands-on experience, along with the classroom instruction, is a great benefit for both the student and the employer. Successful graduates will help us compete in a global market,” notes Jeff Jones, general manager at Vibracoustic and president of the Kyndle FAME chapter.

Information on applying for the 2018 Kyndle FAME program is available at henderson.kctcs.edu/workforce_solutions/ky_fame.aspx or tinyurl.com/kynFAME17.

Meanwhile, there will be a Kyndle FAME chapter meeting for participating and interested employers at 8 a.m. Oct. 26 at HCC’s Sullivan Technology Building in the Lake Board Room.

Also, there is still time for employers to team up with a Kyndle FAME student who has already begun training. Interested employers should contact Whitney Risley, Kyndle’s manager of existing industries and workforce development, at 270-826-7505 or [email protected].

Other industries interested in joining the Kyndle FAME Chapter for the second group of students to begin August 2018 should contact Risley.