Apprenticeship Program Profile: Siemens Charlotte

In 2011 when Siemens could not find enough qualified workers for its newly opened gas turbine factory in Charlotte, the company started the apprenticeship program—which is now one of the more than 550 registered apprenticeship programs in North Carolina. Applying to the apprenticeship at Siemens is no less competitive than applying to a top-tier college. “It’s not that you apply and get in,” said Orkhan Patsiyev, a fourth-year apprentice at the program. After four selection rounds, which include transcript screening, aptitude tests, orientation, and pre-apprenticeship—only four to eight candidates are offered the apprentice positions from an original pool of more than 100 applicants.

Once through the selection process, apprentices at Siemens are paid and receive on-the-job training in mechatronics and machining. At the same time, apprentices work toward an associate degree in machining or engineering technology at a community college nearby, with the full cost of attendance paid by Siemens. Once they successfully complete the program, apprentices are hired as full-time employees and can work at any Siemens location in the U.S., with a starting wage at around $55,000 (which is on par with median family income in America). Most importantly, completion of the program comes with no student debt.

This is why Mr. Patsiyev decided to apply for the program, instead of going to college to study mechanical engineering as he originally planned. “I wanted to go to the apprenticeship, where I get hands-on experience, get a two-year degree in machining, which I could [use] to study engineering later, when I’ve already had a full-time job at the company that I want to work,” he said. “That kind of makes me change my mind.”

The apprenticeship at Siemens involves 8,000 hours of training in total during four years. Apprentices spend most of that time (6,400 hours) at the factory, where they are paired with mentors, who are tenured machinists or maintenance workers at the factory. The apprentices work alongside with the mentors, who show them how to run a machine correctly and safely and answer their questions about the process. “Within the first year, I learned a lot, because we got one of the best mentors,” said Mr. Patsiyev. Even as a fourth year student who knows more about machining compared to when he first started, Mr. Patsiyev said that he still turns to his mentors whenever anything comes up. At the end of each year, the mentors provide feedback on the progress of each apprentice to the apprenticeship coordinator.

Apprentices spend the remaining 1,600 hours at Central Piedmont Community College, where they take classes toward an associate degree in either machining or engineering technology over three and a half years. Apart from these technical classes, they can take some optional customized training programs at the college, such as business etiquette and public speaking, at the expense of the company.

“The beauty of Central Piedmont is that they’re flexible with us, and they understand the industry’s needs to a point where they can modify their [curricula] and substitute courses that actually meet the businesses’ needs,” said Roger Collins, apprenticeship manager at Siemens and an apprentice graduate himself.

For Mr. Patsiyev, every semester is different. This semester he spends four days at school (some of which are split between school and work), and only one full day at work. Unlike other apprentices in the program, he has also taken it upon himself to pursue more classes in mechanical engineering, apart from the required classes by the program, with an aim to get a higher degree in the field later. Juggling between school and work can be challenging, but the program can be flexible with time if the apprentices need more time to study. They also hire tutors for those who fall behind in class, and they pay for the time apprentices spend in the classroom. “If I’m at Central Piedmont Community College from 8 o’clock to 4 o’clock, they would pay me from 8 to 4,” said Mr. Patsiyev.

The program recruits from three different groups: high school students, students from machining and mechatronics programs at local community colleges, and veterans. Half of them come from North Carolina, the other half from South Carolina. Since it is hard to have somebody relocate to Charlotte just for the apprenticeship program and the local response is already sufficient, the program currently does not need to recruit nationally. Recruiting more female students is still a challenge, given the nature of manufacturing work; but according to Mr. Collins, the interest from young, female students is growing. In fact, among three apprentices graduating from the first class of the program, two were female. Mr. Collins also shared that he had invited two young, female candidates to join the pre-apprenticeship this summer, the final round of the selection process.

It costs the program more than $180,000 to train an apprentice from beginning to finish; this includes salaries paid to the apprentices, plus the tuition and fees for the associate degree. This is indeed a significant financial investment for any employer and an obstacle for scaling the program. But, cost is “the obstacle and the solution,” said Mr. Collins. “Whatever costs involved, [the apprentices] pay that back, a lot of time, within the confines of the program.” He said, with a higher level of education and organized on-the-job training, apprentices can become more productive at work within two and a half years. “They pay for themselves before they even graduate from the program.”

So far the program has graduated more than 16 apprentices, 70 percent of whom stayed and now work at Siemens. “Our model and the model that we adapted from have been utilized, not just in the state of North Carolina with many other programs, but also throughout the United States,” said Mr. Collins. It is his plan to expand the apprenticeship to two more occupations, welding and nondestructive engineering, in the short term, and eventually, he said, “to nearly every job we have at Siemens, not just technical jobs.”

After Mr. Patsiyev graduates from the apprenticeship this August, he plans to stay and work at Siemens as a machinist. “I want to work for the company as long as I can,” he said. Once everything is settled down with the full-time job, he wants to further his study of mechanical engineering to earn a bachelor’s degree at a four-year university, where some of the credits he has taken at Central Piedmont are transferable.

“The manufacturing world gets very technologically advanced,” he said. “That’s something you have to keep up; you can’t be old-school. You have to learn every day. Just like being a doctor, you have to always teach yourself a new technology.”