SynergyTech: Ready, Waiting to Train Green Workforce

Manufacturers currently employ about 182,600 Arkansans. In 2008 the sector generated $17.1 billion in the Natural State, which explains why Gov. Mike Beebe recently declared November 2010 as Manufacturing Month in Arkansas.

Those figures would grow if the state’s green industry expanded. Companies like SynergyTech could make that happen.

For instance, if the firm wished to pursue forms of green technology – like wind turbines – it could with an investment of several hundred thousand dollars to purchase the curriculum and hardware.

Located in Springdale, SynergyTech is a non-profit organization of Northwest Arkansas businesses that offers industrial technical skills in demand by area companies. Opened in 1996, it has educated thousands looking to expand their skill-set.

Already a success, SynergyTech would like to expand – and would like for that growth to be green-driven. In fact, the skills-training center already offers about 60 percent of the courses applicable to wind turbine manufacturing. Marketing coordinator Justin Williams said SynergyTech could be even more of a feather in the region’s cap with an expansion into green technologies.