Grant allows Anoka-Ramsey Community College, E & O Tool and Plastics to become partners

The grant signing, Sept. 23, makes the partnership official: Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Coon Rapids and Cambridge, and E & O Tool and Plastics, Elk River, are now working together through a Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant from the State of Minnesota's Department of Employment and Economic Development. The signing was held at the Black Woods Grill, Elk River, Minn.

Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) applied and won the grant last spring and actual training is scheduled to begin next month and run through June 2005. This grant will allow the college to provide customized training services to employees of E & O Tool and Plastics. The objective is to allow the company to become more competitive in its overseas operations and remain a viable employer in the Elk River area.

"It will focus on lean manufacturing training, specifically geared to helping E & O (Tool and Plastics) implement lean manufacturing processes at their facility," says ARCC Director of Customized Training, Jim McCormick. "Additional training topics include cell technology, theory of constraint, transitioning to a lean environment, and safety issues in a lean environment."

Anoka-Ramsey Community College is also managing a similar grant with MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Company) that focuses on lean training. The Customized Training area continues to develop capacities to provide this training to other businesses.