DCTC Develops Training Plan for Growing Minnesota Company

(left to right) Paul Moe, MJSP Director | Ron Thomas, DCTC President | Elizabeth Kautz, Mayor of the City of Burnsville | Isabelle Day, QIC President & CEO | David Kutoff, QIC President

College receives $115,332 MJSP grant and partners with QIC

Quality Ingredients Corporation, a national food manufacturer based in Burnsville, Minn., partnered with Dakota County Technical College to provide technical skills training after a recent expansion. Twenty new and 55 existing employee-owners in Minnesota will receive the training over a two-year period, thanks to a $115,332 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant. The official grant signing took place at the QIC headquarters at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21.

“We are pleased to provide this critical training for Quality Ingredients as they expand operations,” said Patrick McQuillan, DCTC’s dean of continuing education and customized training. “We have extensive experience working with food manufacturers, which is valuable as we customize training to match QIC’s processes.”

Quality Ingredients Corporation is a leader in the spray drying industry and one of the largest 100 percent employee stock ownership plan companies in Minnesota. They place a priority on employee-owner development and continuous improvement. With their expertise in spray dry technology, the company transforms liquids into stable powders for the food and nutrition industries.

(center) Ron Thomas, DCTC President

“This grant is a wonderful validation of our efforts to make development opportunities available to every employee-owner and it is our intent to make our operation better and better every day,” said Isabelle Day, President & CEO of Quality Ingredients Corporation. “Our partnership with DCTC brings us the customized training support we need for our rapidly growing team.”

Planning for this training is currently underway and will begin in March. “Maintenance staffing tends to run very lean for manufacturers, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to schedule everyone for face-to-face training,” said McQuillan. “This grant will allow us to develop a Systems Troubleshooting course in hybrid format. We are working toward this goal for all of our mechatronics training offerings.”

DCTC will conduct training in the following areas:

Operator Automation
Systems Troubleshooting (Hybrid delivery)
Boiler’s License Requirements
Welding for Sanitary Processes
Computers & Math for Technicians
Continuous Skills Coaching
Process and Standard Operating Procedures Development
Lean Manufacturing
Six Sigma
Business Communications
Lean Office

About Quality Ingredients Corporations

Celebrating more than 25 years of service to the food industry, Burnsville, Minnesota-based Quality Ingredients is a 100 percent employee stock ownership company leveraging expertise in drying technology to create proprietary and custom powdered ingredient systems, as well as, provide toll drying and blending services for food processing companies across North American and beyond. Please visit www.qic.us for more information.

About DCTC

DCTC’s Customized Training staff members are experienced in grant administration. Over the past 20 years, DCTC has received and executed tens of millions of dollars in local, state and federal grants to support workforce development in Minnesota. Since 2000, Dakota County Technical College has partnered with over 60 Minnesota businesses administering more than $12 million in MJSP training grants.

Dakota County Technical College’s Customized Training division specializes in offering training and consulting services in the following areas: Business & Management, Computers & Technology, Health Care, Manufacturing & Trades, Transportation & Safety. DCTC guides companies through comprehensive training and development programs that bridge all work types and positions – enabling employers to provide a cross-company/cross-department focus and message, with the flexibility of using multiple formats.