A Bozeman company that makes toys, apparel and beds for cats and dogs is offering the state’s first manufacturing apprenticeship.
West Paw Designs is hosting Holly Evans, 20, for an injection molding apprenticeship. The program is aimed at training workers to meet the demands from the state’s growing manufacturing industry.
Evans has been with the company for about four months, but has been in the apprentice program for about four weeks.
In her first couple of months at the company, Evans said she’s operating machinery that would normally take five years to build at other companies. She said by the end of the program, she’ll be able to say she knows how to operate machinery for injection molding and will have the certificate to prove it.
“For me, right now, I feel like I’m getting paid to go to school,” she said.
On Thursday, Gov. Steve Bullock toured the company’s building and met with Evans.
Bullock touted that the program was driven by the company and was helping to increase the workforce for the manufacturing industry, which he said was booming in the state. Put simply, Bullock said, Evans is earning money while learning skills.
“Once we bring those two together, folks like Holly are getting paid better while she’s gaining those skills, and the employer is getting what they need out of them,” he said.
The company attended a presentation on apprenticeships at an Innovate Montana Symposium last summer, put on by the governor’s office. Since then, the company has created a set of standards for the injection molding apprenticeship.
A curriculum designed by West Paw has been developed and is being taught in high schools in Bozeman, Three Forks and Livingston. West Paw CEO Spencer Williams said the program was for anyone who wanted to learn and wasn’t restricted to high school and college students.
He said the apprenticeship provides for those who want hands-on learning.
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