Texas Border Business
For twelve employees from one of Weslaco’s newest companies, Kapal Cabinet House, LLC, the earning of their OSHA 30 Certification is now complete thanks to a $100,000 grant given to STC as part of the EDC’s partnership with South Texas College and the Institution for Advanced Manufacturing.
A kickoff luncheon was held in mid-June to announce the EDC/STC partnership and within a matter of days, OSHA instructors and Kapal employees were under the domed roof of the company’s manufacturing plant on Business 83 in Weslaco, learning about occupational health and safety.
For the first round of skill development and workforce training, the EDC of Weslaco targeted over 50 companies in the Mid Valley Industrial Park and
While employees at the Kapal Cabinet House might have been the first to take advantage of the STC training, owners of ColiMex Cold Storage were making arrangements to hold a 30-hour General Industry OSHA Training Course for their employees in August 2019.
OSHA training is only one of more than 100 workforce training courses available and offered free to Weslaco employers because of the EDC grant. “The goal is to improve the efficiency and productivity of our companies in Weslaco,” says Marie McDermott, Executive Director for the EDC. “There is a direct tie to running a successful and profitable business when all of the employees are equipped with the right training,” says McDermott.
“Formal and institutionalized training makes a significant difference between training passed down from one employee to another,” says Juan “JJ” Serrano, EDC Board Member and Facility Leader at the HEB Distribution Center in Weslaco. Serrano attended the kickoff luncheon and said that STC would bring a type of formal training to industries who often rely on less formal “in house training.”
An added benefit to the EDC/STC partnership and its workforce training initiative is in the recruitment efforts of the Weslaco EDC. “When EDC staff is in the process of pursuing or targeting a company to consider Weslaco to grow and expand their business,” says EDC board vice president, Diana Fuentes Aguilar, “we feel confident that any lack of training or any void in our workforce, can easily be filled by classes offered by STC. And what makes it even better, is that the training is free.”
