In September, members of the NPCA professional staff traveled to Pleasanton, Calif., to conduct Production & Quality School I in Spanish for Oldcastle Precast. Ricardo Diaz, civil engineer with Hanson Professional Services, presented the material over the course of two days to 23 Oldcastle employees from the company’s Pleasanton and Stockton locations.
According to Kathy Ritsmon, education programs manager with NPCA, the event was highly successful.
“Everyone had a very positive response to the class and the students were excited about the course material,” she said.
Claude Goguen, P.E., LEED AP, NPCA’s director of sustainability and technical education, explained that the booming economy has resulted in many precasters shifting their approach to training.
“Precasters are busier and they have good help,” he said. “I think they are realizing that in order to keep that good help, it’s no longer okay to just tell employees what to do, you have to also tell them why they’re doing it.”
Ritsmon added that she has seen a recent uptick in requests for courses offered in Spanish, which may lead to similar events in the future.
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