Bulloch County’s newest manufacturing business Great Dane Trailers, along with the Georgia Quick Start program and Ogeechee Technical College, announced plans Tuesday to help train the company’s projected 400 new employees.
    Great Dane is nearing completion of its 450,000-square-foot facility on a 118-acre site in Statesboro’s Gateway Industrial Park off Highway 301. In its first phase, the plant will have the capacity to produce more than 5,000 trailers annually, employing more than 400 workers. It is scheduled to begin production in April 2012.
     “We’re proud to help this longtime Georgia company continue to grow and create new jobs in our state,” said Jackie Rohosky, Technical College System of Georgia assistant commissioner for economic development programs and head of Quick Start.
    Quick Start is Georgia’s economic development program that provides customized workforce training at no cost to qualified new, expanding and existing businesses in the state. Since 1967, the program has trained more than 976,000 employees.
    Great Dane Trailers manufactures dry van, refrigerated and platform trailers. The company has division offices in Savannah and Chicago.
    Anyone interested in applying for a job at the new plant can attend the Great Dane Trailers Job Recruitment Fair, at Ogeechee Technical College from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 14. Applications will be accepted at the event by Georgia Department of Labor representatives at the event and applicants should not apply directly to the company.
    For the Statesboro plant, Quick Start is developing job-specific training on the high-tech processes and equipment in each production area, including safety, precision measurement, fabrication, robotics, and extensive assembly and welding operations.
    The Quick Start training agreement specific to Statesboro was developed based on a study that was conducted at Great Dane’s manufacturing facility in Brazil, Ind. The training agreement stems from Great Dane’s commitment to provide approximately 400 new jobs in the Bulloch County area.
    Quick Start will design and develop training materials, as well as provide instructors, for the classes.
    The training program involves three distinct partners: Great Dane, Ogeechee Technical College and Quick Start. Each partner will be responsible for the successful completion of the program.
    The partnership will not end when the Quick Start training is complete. Ogeechee Tech will assist Great Dane with ongoing training programs and will significantly expand its welding certificate program.
    “We are delighted to have Great Dane in our community, and to be involved with providing the qualified workforce that they will depend on to be successful,” said Dr. Dawn Cartee, president of Ogeechee Tech.