A strong workforce doesn’t happen by chance. For Centro Inc., of Beaver Dam, growing internal talent is the key to their future success.

“It’s important that we develop talent from within,” Myron McMahon, operations manager at Centro, Inc. said. “We provide rotational molding technology, which is a specialized market. We can’t place an ad in the paper and expect to get many that are skilled leaders in the field. For this reason, we need to engage our newer frontline employees and provide them with professional development opportunities.”

Centro was founded in 1970 near Oxford, Iowa, and today they have eight locations across the Midwest and two international locations in Brazil and Ireland. They work to provide custom molding to industries such as agriculture, automotive, construction, medial and bio-medical, consumer goods, lawn and garden, and many more. Some of their customers include John Deere, Toro, Scag, and Metalcraft.

Their internal training began at the main headquarters in Iowa, with a request to mimic that training at their Wisconsin locations in Beaver Dam and Horicon. Their goal was to provide all employees with similar training opportunities despite the plant locations. Centro connected with Moraine Park’s Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) department to achieve this goal.

“We had the curriculum from our Iowa location,” McMahon said. “The EWD team was then able to take that curriculum, correlate it to Moraine Park’s training, and create a leadership program that fulfilled our needs.”

Their training, taught by Moraine Park instructors Roy Krueger and Tim Meyer, has been customized to fit the mission, values, and structure of Centro. The EWD team understands that not all companies are alike. For this reason, they offer flexibility in scheduling so that opportunities to grow don’t inhibit current company production.

“Developing leaders as our talent pipeline will serve well for our future,” McMahon said. “The Moraine Park instructors provide exceptional teaching and even work Centro’s mission and values into the lessons. I can’t say enough good things about our experience with Moraine Park’s EWD department.”

Centro’s first class of 10 is set to complete their Leadership Tier 1 training on June 11. There are plans for a second group this fall, and in total Centro is working to create three different internal professional development opportunities; Supervision 101, Leadership Tier 1, and Leadership Tier 2.

Learn more about partnering with Moraine Park for customized training. Contact training@morainepark.edu or call Angie at 920-924-3449.

We would like to introduce Amy Beaman, Moraine Park Technical College Economic and Workforce Development department’s newest full-time instructor.  Beaman comes to Moraine Park with 20 years of experience in a variety of Human Resources and Organizational Development Leadership roles in both the private and public sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, service sector, and education. She hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and a Master of Science Degree in Management and Organizational Development from Silver Lake College.

As an instructor, Beaman enjoy providing customized training and solutions to area businesses in leadership, communication, teambuilding, human resources and customer service.  Beaman states, “it is gratifying being part of a team that focuses on collaborating and building partnerships with the community and area businesses to bring economic growth, success, and learning excellence to our district.”

As Beaman put it, “I know that teaching is not a ‘one size fits all’, and that each individual learner comes to the classroom with a unique combination of work experiences, educational background, and career aspirations.  I am passionate about meeting each student where they are at in their professional journey and take great pride in helping people grow and develop their communication and leadership skills and potential.  By bringing real-life business examples and fruitful discussions to the classroom, each learner is able to walk away with something they can apply when they return to the work environment.”

When she’s not in the classroom, she enjoy spending time with her husband and two sons who are both in middle school.  They enjoy watching the boys play soccer and baseball, going up north, boating, and crossing off places to travel on their bucket list.

For more information on our Business & Industry workshops and seminars, visit morainepark.edu.