Manufacturing runs Northwest Arkansas, and it's hiring. Eighty hours gets you OSHA-grounded, forklift-certified, fluent in lean, and inside four to six working plants before you ever apply anywhere — so your first day on a production floor isn't your first time on one.
Two full weeks back to back. All 80 curriculum hours are delivered on site, plus individual seat time and your OSHA operator evaluation.
Off-site training days are part of this course. Some of your hands-on hours happen away from the classroom on working equipment. Once you're at the church each morning, we transport you there and back — you won't need to follow the group in your own vehicle.
Lunch is provided, and it's a working lunch. Served buffet style, eaten with the class while instruction continues, so the hour counts toward your 80. We can't accommodate special dietary needs — pack your own if you need to.
Each day also includes rotating individual seat time while classmates are being evaluated — roughly 10 extra hours of machine time on top of the 80-hour curriculum, at no additional cost.
Pre-operational inspections, the stability triangle, load capacity, pallet handling and stacking — finished with a hands-on evaluation that earns the Academy Forklift Operator certificate.
Four to six plant visits — metals fabrication, food processing, injection molding, automated distribution — watching production, quality and safety happen at full speed.
5S, the seven wastes, kaizen, standard work, cycle time and OEE — the vocabulary and mindset every modern plant expects from day one.
Tapes, squares, calipers and micrometers, plus the hand and power tools production work actually uses — used safely and read accurately.
Each module unlocks when you pass the one before it. Every module ends with a project you build and submit and a quiz you have to clear — no skipping ahead, no finishing without doing the work.
Production systems and manufacturing types, Arkansas industry sectors, Industry 4.0 — automation, sensors and data — and the career ladder from associate to supervisor.
OSHA standards and worker rights, hazard recognition, PPE, lockout/tagout, fire safety, forklift classes I–VII, the stability triangle, load charts and inspection checklists.
Pre-operational inspections, driving and maneuvering, pallet pickup and placement, stacking and staging, spotter teamwork. Earns the Academy Forklift Operator – Entry Level Certificate.
Guided visits to four to six working facilities — metals fabrication, food processing, injection molding, automated distribution — with structured journals and debriefs.
Tapes, calipers and micrometers; hand and power tool safety; 5S, the seven wastes, kaizen, standard work and productivity metrics, with a hands-on lean simulation.
A manufacturing-focused resume, mock interviews, shift-work expectations, workplace communication, plus the written final and your forklift operator evaluation.
Most entry-level manufacturing hires have never been inside a plant before their first shift. Students in this track visit four to six working Arkansas facilities — metals fabrication, food processing, injection molding, automated distribution — and watch production, quality and safety happen at full speed, with supervisors answering their questions.
The forklift credential matters just as much: OSHA 1910.178 makes the employer legally responsible for a documented operator evaluation. You arrive with formal instruction, practical training and the evaluation already done — the three things the standard requires.
You leave with the certificate, a field journal from every plant you toured, and answers to the question every interviewer asks: do you know what this work is actually like?
Five minutes to apply. No cost, no obligation, no catch — the program is grant funded start to finish.
