The Bluffton GROB apprenticeship training team is busy preparing for 20 new apprentices to start on Monday, June 3. 

The new class will join 81 current apprentices in their second, third or fourth year of the program, bringing the total number of apprentices at GROB to 101.

The 2019 candidate pool proved to be tremendously talented and competitive with over 100 applications received.

The incoming apprenticeship class has an average high school GPA of 3.44 and is made up of students from local high schools (Ada, Allen East, Arcadia, Columbus Grove, Continental, Delphos St. Johns, Fort Jennings, Kalida, Kenton, Ottawa Glandorf, Riverdale, Shawnee, and Spencerville), career centers (Vantage and Apollo), and out of state students (Washington and Kentucky).

To prepare the incoming class for their first week at GROB, the new hires and their families will attend an orientation breakfast on Saturday, June 1.

During orientation the apprentices will have an opportunity to meet the training staff, review the agenda for their first week of work, and take their family members on a guided tour of the plant.

GROB Systems has dedicated nearly 30 years to the continuous development of the apprenticeship program at the company’s North American production plant in Bluffton. To date, the program has hired and trained nearly 350 employees.

GROB has retained more than 60 percent of the apprenticeship program workforce, including three managers, nine supervisors, and ten foremen who are graduates of the program.

Of the 570 employees at GROB, over one third are current apprentices or graduates of the apprenticeship program.

To learn more about GROB’s apprenticeship program, visit grobsystems.com/apprentice.