When AJAC launched in 2008, our organization was oriented around building comprehensive pathways and organizational capacity to support the state’s local aerospace workforce through registered apprenticeship. In our first ten years, AJAC partnered with over 200 aerospace employers across Washington State to create holistic programs such as machining, fabrication, and tool and die making to meet their training needs.
In 2019, AJAC saw an emergence of local food processing manufacturers who had similar challenges to companies operating in the aerospace sector. These challenges ranged from an inability to find skilled workers to identifying incumbent worker retraining programs.
Through community partnerships and employer engagement, AJAC took the leap to develop rich and diverse apprenticeship programs that meet the needs of food processors that create a variety of products, specifically including potato, apple, hops, and seafood products.
As Washington’s largest non-profit advanced manufacturing training organization, AJAC offers apprenticeship training at little to no cost to ALL employers in the food processing industry. At AJAC, we have industry experts on staff to help food manufacturers and processors with their safety, sanitation, technology, maintenance and production needs.
