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So it was natural to turn again to EMCC in March – when word came that Holcim’s corporate headquarters had decided to “mothball” its Artesia plant in the face of a worldwide economic downturn.
At stake was the future of 113 employees.
Boyd and Dr. Raj Shaunak, EMCC’s vice president of workforce and community services, sat down and made a plan.
Shaunak: “We decided that EMCC would throw open its doors to Holcim employees. We would offer them any and all of our services free of charge. We would create training classes specifically for them.”
Boyd: “And we decided that Holcim employees could take the classes during work hours, on the clock, and we’d pay them for that time.”
And that’s the way it worked until Holcim’s final day of operation, June 30.
WAEM Regional Initiative
The efforts of EMCC and Holcim managers were enhanced by the West Alabama – East Mississippi (WAEM) Regional Initiative. It is funded by a three-year, $15 million federal grant designed to help community colleges build business partnerships in their districts.
One of the first things the WAEM Regional Initiative did was adopt Amatrol’s M3 testing program. M3 stands for Modern Multi-skilled Manufacturing.
“M3 is an open entry-open exit online course that teaches the fundamentals of manufacturing environments. As students finish each online module, they schedule a hands-on skills test at EMCC’s Golden Triangle campus,” said Bruce Hanson, EMCC’s community entrepreneurial development facilitator.
“The difference is that passing the test for an M3 module earns the student a certification universally recognized by manufacturers. It tells a potential employer that the applicant is proficient in the skills they need, and the certification is completely portable – industries in this area know the value of EMCC workforce training, but an M3 credential is recognized nationwide.”
EMCC’s workforce development team drove out to the plant May 29 to hold an M3 graduation ceremony for Holcim employees.
Mickey White of Crawford was one of those graduates. A maintenance technician, White worked for Holcim for 19 years. He met the lady who would become his wife, and mother of his three children, at Holcim Cement.
“Thanks to the severance from Holcim, I should be OK until the end of October – but I really don’t want it to take that long. My dad brought me up working, and that’s what I want to do,” White said.
“It worries me. It’s the last thing I think of before I go to sleep, and the first thing I think of when I wake up. But the M3 training has made my confidence grow a lot. I will always have that, and no one can tell me what I don’t know.”
White hasn’t lost his sense of humor, though. Asked what kind of job he’d like, he said, “It would be nice if it was something that involved fishing.”
Ready for a comeback
O.L. Robinson of Macon is part of a skeleton crew of 10 employees who will keep their jobs at the mothballed plant. Also an M3 graduate, Robinson has been a Holcim employee for 20 years.
“I was working in Columbus, but I wanted to work for Holcim and I had Mr. Boyd’s phone number,” Robinson said.
“So every day at lunch, I would rush over to a convenience store nearby that had a pay phone, and call Mr. Boyd to see if he had an opening. I think he eventually hired me just so I’d stop calling him every day.”
Now that the plant is closing, maintenance technicians like Robinson will keep the machinery in good working order. The plant will also continue to serve local customers, and the new operations manager will keep the facility’s Environmental Protection Agency permits current.
James Boyd is taking early retirement: “I could have stayed, but I’m turning 62 in October. I’m just a couple of years from retirement anyway, so I decided to go ahead and retire to make way for a younger person.”
Boyd said the Holcim Cement plant in Artesia could be re-activated as soon as two to three years from now. It’s ideally situated, he said, within a stone’s throw of rail and interstate transportation. Another factor in the plant’s favor is that the Selma Chalk used to manufacture cement is easy to mine in the Golden Triangle area, which cuts down on costs. The chalk is concentrated in the Pontotoc Ridge, near the Tombigbee River, just 2 or 3 feet below the surface.
“I’d love to see the day when all our employees come back, because they’ve been the best employees you could ask for. I’d like to thank them for all their hard work over the years,” Boyd said.
“I’d also like to thank EMCC for responding to our many training needs during our long partnership – and we’ll all look forward to the plant re-opening.”
