readySC™ Differentiates South Carolina

Just because South Carolina's Center for Accelerated Technology Training has changed its name to readySC™, doesn't mean there will be a change in the way the state delivers the skilled, trained and readily available workforce that companies have become accustomed to.

“Everything we do in regard to production workforce training is project specific” says Susan Pretulak, senior director, readySC™. “We do not do cookie-cutter projects. We have tremendous resources to draw on, and our first job is to listen to what a company's needs are; and to discern what type of operation the company wants to establish in the state.”

Pretulak says the discovery process is the key to the services readySC™ provides, and is what makes the program different from other recruitment and training incentives in the country.

After the discovery process, readySC™ matches resources on a statewide or global basis. “We are now looking around the world to find where the expertise is located and determining how quickly we can bring the expertise to South Carolina,” Pretulak notes. ReadySC™ works with technical colleges to develop specialty trainers to provide the training, and in some cases, will use vendor training. And, the training is free. The only time cost would be involved is if a piece of equipment used in the training is proprietary. “In that case, we borrow the equipment” Pretulak says.

Pretulak points out that readySC™ can work with the largest to the smallest firms to deliver training. For example, take the BMW assembly plant that located to Spartanburg in the early 1990s. “We did the recruitment and the training for that project from the ground up,” Pretulak says. “And, in my service area alone, I have worked with more than 22 suppliers. When it comes to suppliers, there are certain things we know, that because they supply to BMW, that they will have as part of their training process. We have an understanding of what the total manufacturing culture will be.”

ReadySC™ officials also provide fluidity when working with companies and how they resource projects. For example, Freightliner, a DaimlerChrysler company, had been assembling Sprinter vans in upstate South Carolina. For the past two years, the company has been transitioning the work to the Charleston area, and readySC™ has conducted training and recruitment for the company.

ReadySC™ is ready to do what it takes to make projects successful.