As many skilled trades workers approach retirement age, filling jobs in the industrial sector becomes more of a challenge with each passing year.
To meet that demand, leaders at Trane Technologies in Tyler are looking inward.
Trane and Tyler Junior College’s Industrial Maintenance Technology program have developed an apprenticeship program that allows current employees to expand their skillset and earn a degree, all while increasing their earning potential and helping to offset the company’s retiring workforce.
“There are guys who have been here for 20 years or more, and as they’re moving on to retirement age, it’s difficult to find replacements,” said Douglas Hannah, Trane maintenance supervisor. “We recognized that there’s a lot of talent among our ranks — who are working on the assembly lines and the fabrication shops — that we could utilize through this apprenticeship program.”
During the two-year program, apprentices work full time in Trane’s maintenance department while attending TJC classes, which are paid for by the company. “It’s a commitment to work a 40-hour week plus going to school,” Hannah added. “One of the things we’re also requiring them to do through the apprenticeship program is not just to earn their certificate but to get their associate degree. It obviously benefits Trane by getting good employees but, at the end of the day, it’s for the betterment of their own lives. They will come out of this with a college degree, which will be better their lives and livelihoods in the long run.”
Trane’s first two apprentices, Chad Lewis and Jeffery Pasley, are ages 41 and 38, respectively. They are both husbands and fathers, and they’re on track to graduate from TJC in May with Associate of Applied Science degrees. While they admit that the program has been a lot of work, they say eventual payoff will have been worth it for themselves and their families.
Pasley was already taking TJC courses before he landed the apprenticeship.
Students in TJC’s industrial maintenance program learn about Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), which are the computers that control industrial machinery.
“I started working at Trane in 2021 and made up my mind then that I would also go to college,” said Pasley, who worked in construction and oil field jobs prior to Trane. “I’m in my third year at TJC. I got my basics done the first year and then started the industrial maintenance program last year. I work the third shift, which is from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday. I’ve worked overnight the whole time I’ve been in college at TJC. After I get off work, I go home and help get my daughter ready for school, get her and my wife out the door, and then I get to class at TJC by 8 a.m.
“The TJC program is great because most of the things we’re learning in class are the same exact things we’re doing at work. My favorite part is assembly, which is where they put together the air conditioning units. There are a lot of processes on the assembly line that have to work in a certain way. I enjoy it.”
Lewis agrees, “The apprentice program is awesome. We’re getting the best of both worlds because we have true mentors on the job at Trane. They teach me as much as they can, and then I come to TJC and the professors are the same way. I can talk with any of them, and they give me all the skills and knowledge that they can so I can be successful.”
Before he joined the Trane maintenance department, Lewis was working in production, where coils for the air-conditioning units are made. “I would notice the maintenance men and try to get under their wing to learn things just by watching,” he said. “I thought that would be a great career choice. It was always something that I would like to be a part of.”
Over the past year in the program, Lewis has developed an interest in robotics and automation, which is the norm in today’s industrial sector. “I enjoy programming them, troubleshooting them and getting them to do whatever they need them to do,” Lewis said. “My grander plan is to finish this program, graduate in May and get some more experience at Trane under my belt. Trane also has industrial engineering opportunities, so this program transfers right into a program with UT Tyler. That could be my next step.”
Maintenance technicians learn to modify the PLC’s logic, or commands, depending on what is needed on the factory floor.
That is music to Hannah’s ears. “The things these guys are learning here are going to put them ahead of even the maintenance techs that we have now, who haven’t had these classes. We’re already getting interest for next year,” he said. “We will start the selection process for next year in January and then have our selections done by March, so they can go ahead and start taking their general education classes in the summer.
“I know of two or three employees who are already taking TJC basic, general education classes now to get them out of the way in hopes of being selected to the apprenticeship program in the future. TJC has been a great, collaborative partner with Trane.”
The feeling is mutual, according to Link Worthen, TJC Industrial Maintenance Technology program coordinator and professor. “We are so grateful to be in this industrial/educational partnership with Trane,” Worthen said. “Industrial maintenance is a very satisfying and lucrative profession, and there is such high demand for college-trained industrial maintenance technicians that the opportunities are endless. This is a win-win-win opportunity for Trane, TJC and the employee.”
For more information, go to TJC.edu/IMT.