Auto parts manufacturer Gestamp has begun a Department of Labor-registered tool-and-die apprenticeship program at six plants, including its South Charleston, West Virginia, facility, with sites also operating in Alabama, Michigan, Tennessee and South Carolina. The initiative, developed with the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center (MAMC), starts with 32 apprentices and is designed to standardize skilled-trades training across the company's U.S. operations.
How the Program Is Structured
MAMC's Apprenticeship Works division serves as the program sponsor, a role that carries specific administrative weight under federal apprenticeship rules. The center sets up each site's curriculum, customizes technical instruction to match Gestamp's actual equipment and processes, and acts as the liaison with the Department of Labor to keep the program compliant with registration standards. Because Apprenticeship Works operates on a $7,103,847 grant from the department's Employment and Training Administration, Gestamp pays nothing to participate, according to the company.
Brook Southwick, Gestamp's director of Talent Management for North America, said the multi-state structure previously made it difficult to keep training consistent plant to plant. Working with a single outside sponsor, she said, lets the company apply the same training requirements, share instructional resources and coordinate best practices across all locations rather than building separate programs from scratch at each site.
A Pipeline Starting in High School
Alongside the formal apprenticeship, Gestamp has launched pre-apprenticeship programs at its South Charleston and South Carolina plants, with similar efforts starting in Alabama, Michigan and Tennessee. In South Charleston, participating students come from Ralph R. Willis Career and Technical Center in Logan County, selected based on test scores, attendance records and stated interest in joining the regional workforce after graduation, according to Principal Macel Adams.
Students work roughly 15 hours a week over two or three days, rotating through departments to observe manufacturing processes and workplace operations before being considered for a full apprenticeship. MAMC maps this coursework directly to Department of Labor apprenticeship standards, so hours completed in high school can count toward the registered program later. Ralph R. Willis was the first school to join this track; students from 13 West Virginia counties now participate through an agreement between MAMC and the state Department of Education.
Why Employers Use Registered Apprenticeships
Registered apprenticeships differ from informal on-the-job training because they combine paid work with structured instruction tied to a nationally recognized credential, overseen by a Department of Labor-approved sponsor. Jordan Dailey, Gestamp's tool and die development manager, noted he entered the trade 23 years ago without such a program and sees the new pathway as a faster, more structured route into a skilled trade than the one he experienced.
Heather Cooper, MAMC's Apprenticeship Unit director, said structured programs tend to reduce turnover, improve workplace safety and help transfer institutional knowledge from veteran employees before they retire - outcomes cited broadly in workforce development research, though specific figures for Gestamp's program are not yet available since it has just launched. Gestamp also plans a separate Mechatronics Apprenticeship Program in 2027 aimed at maintenance staff who service automated and robotic systems, and Southwick said other departments are being evaluated for similar training tracks.