Apprenticeship RI is pleased to welcome RI Heat Treating as the latest manufacturer to embrace Apprenticeship in Rhode Island.  At the referral of Polaris MEP, Apprenticeship RI was introduced to Mary and Bob Emerson, owners of RI Heat Treating, who were looking for a way to train reliable employees to the highest level with an eye towards passing along their business someday.

Heat Treating is the process in which a metal is heated to a certain temperature and then cooled in a particular manner to alter its internal structure for obtaining a desired physical property.  This process often improves mechanical properties needed for many industries such as automotive, electronics and machine tooling.  “Heat Treating is really a science.” says Mary Emerson.

Bob, a nationally recognized expert in Heat Treating, learned the business at age 16 from his family and is now interested in passing his knowledge to the next generation.  Mary is a certified k-12 teacher and has taught in Rhode Island for 28 years.  Mary has also collaborated with CCRI to customize manufacturing curriculum for adult learners and spearheaded the creation of a job training center in Quonset Industrial Park.  Mary has designed an in-house curriculum to cover the job-related classroom training required for Apprenticeship.

“We are proud of our employees, Dan and Efrain.  We interviewed a lot of candidates before finding the “right” people who were looking for a commitment to a career, not just a job.  Ideally we wanted to hire employees who shared our work ethic and wanted to learn a skill through their life’s work.   “The Apprenticeship model fits our work environment and values.  It allows us to clearly define & measure on the job skills while passing down our knowledge.  Best of all, upon successful achievement of competencies, our employees will earn an Apprenticeship credential that is recognized by the State of Rhode Island.”

Through the no-cost technical assistance provided by Apprenticeship RI, RI Heat Treating was able to custom-design their apprenticeship program to fit their business needs and access the Governor’s Workforce Board Non-Trade Apprenticeship Incentive.