A robot on the BMW line is among many robots at the Gestamp plant Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016.Gestamp plants
› Plant 1 — Hickory Valley Road, opened 2010, makes stamped parts and welded assemblies, size doubled in recent expansion› Plant 2 — Ferdinand Piech Way next to existing VW supplier park, will make outside body panels for new VW SUV› Plant 3 — Jersey Pike in former Farley’s & Sathers candy plant, will make chassis parts for VW and other automakersSource: Gestamp
Volkswagen supplier Gestamp is tuning up its Chattanooga plants to make parts for the automaker's new sport utility vehicle, and hiring high-quality workers is vital, officials said Tuesday.
"We have three plants here. The opportunities provided to you if you want to stay in Chattanooga are splendid," said Gestamp plant director Corey Jahn to a group of high school students who toured the company's new Jersey Pike factory.
Nearly 50 Tyner Academy, Hixson High School and Cleveland High students checked out the robots in the Gestamp plant that will make auto chassis parts not just for VW but for BMW and Volvo.
The students are interested in or already studying mechatronics, a field that combines electronics and mechanical engineering.
Randy Boyd, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner, said one of every eight jobs in Tennessee involves manufacturing.
"We're famous for manufacturing," he said. "These are important jobs, fun jobs, and there are a lot of them."
In addition to automakers such as VW, General Motors and Nissan, Tennessee has more than 900 companies that produce car parts, Boyd said.
"If you like making cars or like cars, that would be a great job," he said.
Tony Cates, Gestamp's human resources manager for the Chattanooga plants, told the students they need to take advantage of the Tennessee Promise scholarship, which provides two years of tuition-free attendance at a community or technical college.
He said a work-based learning program for students who come to Gestamp is trying to focus on building a labor pool.
Cates said it "gives kids, a lot of time at-risk kids, the opportunity to learn what it means to work and have a good-paying job while they're going to school and then be ready for the work place once they graduate."
Danny Payton, a Hixson High senior who is working on an assembly line, said he likes to come to work where he can interact with interesting people. He also likes to see the finished product made at the plant.
Jada Beckett, a Tyner Academy senior, said she sorts parts at Gestamp and likes talking with older people at the plant about how to do the job better and gain life lessons.
"We talk a lot about school and how we should do well now and get a scholarship later to go to college and do what we want to do ," she said.
Brandon Payne, a Cleveland High senior working in a mechatronics program, said programming is interesting.
"Once we learned the basics of it, it was pretty easy," he said.
Bryan Robinson, who teaches mechatronics at Tyner, said there are a lot of opportunities in Chattanooga and Tennessee.
"We have so much manufacturing available here. Industry is dying for good qualified employees," he said.
Gestamp has training robots at Tyner and at Cleveland High, and officials said they're trying to get one at Central High.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said Gestamp has taken "a big interest" in workforce development. He said that's key with a lot of retirements coming among older manufacturing workers.
Gestamp is investing $180 million into Hamilton County with plans to hire 510 additional employees to service VW and other automakers in the South. The amount of investment is the single biggest ever by a VW supplier in the county.
Production on VW's new midsize SUV is to start late this year, with the vehicles hitting dealerships early in 2017.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.