PORUS, Manchester:
ALUMINA PARTNERS of Jamaica (Alpart) has opened its doors to an additional 25 industrial apprentices bringing to 92, the number enrolled at the alumina plant in Nain, St. Elizabeth.
The apprentices were presented at a welcoming ceremony held at the plant yesterday.
The apprenticeship programme which was launched four years ago, is a joint Alpart/HEART Trust/NTA project which trains participants in the industrial, electrical and mechanical trades.
Addressing the apprentices at the welcoming ceremony, General Manager of Alpart, Gene Miller said the Alpart/ HEART Trust/NTA project complements Alpart's skills upgrading programmes, which are aimed at providing the company with a skilled workforce at world class levels. He said the partners of the programme should regard it as a 'winner' as it meets all their needs. "It meets Alpart's needs for skilled workers, it meets the apprentices' needs for training, income and opportunity and it helps HEART to fulfil its mission as the national training agency," he said.
Manager of HEART Trust/ NTA's South Western Region, Robert Green, said he was pleased of the results of the programme so far. "I am pleased at the way the apprentices have developed attitudinally, and as it relates to them achieving their performance targets," he said. The fact that the programme has now seen its fourth batch means that a pool of competent individuals was being developed for a competitive workforce, he said.
The apprentices, are given classroom instruction and on-the-job training and the majority are expected to fill vacant positions created by the retirement of skilled workers from Alpart over the next ten years.
Senior Training Officer at Alpart, Genearchie Wilson, said the apprentices are rotated through the different working areas in the plant and are given in -depth, cross functional training in the alumina processing system.
Since the programme was introduced in 1998, with a batch of 25 apprentices a similar number has been recruited each year. So far, there have been eight dropouts for a variety of reasons, which Senior Training Officer Wilson says, "is not a bad record".
The trainees are recruited mainly from Alpart's operating areas in Manchester and St. Elizabeth.
