Down The Road Dividends - by Anna Dykema, Charlotte Weekly

"Some would call it risk; others, good business. But Blum USA, a global manufacturer of furniture fittings and kitchen design components, says Apprenticeship 2000, a program that inests in a future skilled-labor workforce, is simply a smart investment. Fellow program participants Ameritech, Max Daetwyler Corp., Sarstedt Inc. and Timken agree. >> read full story

Pride and Appreciation Ameritech - by Derek Korn, Modern Machine

"Ameritech finds it easier to instill its machining-to-zero-stock mindset into a sharp young person who doesn’t have conflicting, preconceived notions about how machining and mold building “should” be carried out. My writing career began in a similar fashion nearly a decade ago. A company needing a person to write about the application of manufacturing technologies hired an amateur gearhead with an engineering degree but no professional writing experience. I made up for initially limited storytelling skills with an appreciation of those technologies and the desire to learn more about them." >> read full story

At apprenticeship, you're hired! - by Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer

"These guys are like an investment in the future," Ralf Atzor, Blum's vice president of engineering, told me on a tour ofthe plant Friday at N.C. 16 and Old Plank Road. Blum and Daetwyler in Huntersville formed the program in 1995, after facing a shortage of skilled technicians. Blum had two job openings at the time, one for an accountant, one for a machinist. The Austria-based cabinetry-parts maker got 100 applications for the accounting job and three for machinist. I wrote about the program three years after it launched and am happy to report, today, it's as strong as ever." >> read full story