"As manufacturing jobs pour into SC, how is virtual reality shaping workforce training?"

On March 11, 2024 The Post and Courier/The Free Times published "As manufacturing jobs pour into SC, how is virtual reality shaping workforce training?"

Writer Hannah Wade spoke with MTC Advanced Manufacturing & Skilled Trades Program Director Mike Ross.

An excerpt from the report:

“Virtual reality can play a really big role in the onboarding process of bringing a new employee up to speed quicker because they may be timid,” Michael Ross, program director for industrial technologies at Midlands Technical College, said. “It lays some really good foundation for people to be more confident in their roles.”

The technical school, one of the state’s largest, has two programs that rely on simulations for job training. One, an HVAC simulator, allows for trainees to practice repairing an HVAC system without the school having to manually construct real HVAC systems. Ross said that new software has saved the college money and effort.

The other training tool at Midlands Tech is through a heavy equipment operator program, which brought two mobile simulator machines. The machines allow trainees, like students or employees sent to the technical college for workforce training, to operate large equipment like bulldozers and excavators without ever actually stepping into one.

Read more from The Post and Courier/The Free Times.

MTC's heavy equipment operator program was created through to funding from the Truist Foundation and Truist Financial Corporation’s community reinvestment department.