Seagate Technology receives ETP approval for second company-wide workforce training proposal.

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Contact: Maria Wayne,
Director, Leadership Development
Seagate Technology
920 Disc Drive Scotts Valley, CA 95303
Telephone: (831) 439-2268
Fax: (408) 721-1584
Grant Amount: $1,530,000

Founded in 1979, Seagate Technology, headquartered in Scotts Valley, is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard computer disc drives, providing products for a wide-range of applications, including enterprise, desktop, mobile computing, and consumer electronics. Computer disc drives have extended their adoption beyond traditional computing to include hand-held media players, digital video recorders for TV, home networks, gaming consoles, PDAs, and media servers, and these new products are fundamentally changing the way people use information. Also many companies are moving to “Cloud Computing” which is shaping up as the future architecture for storing electronic data. Cloud storage is essentially a way of creating storage infrastructure via the internet in which data management is automated to a large degree and efficiency is paramount. An overall shift towards cloud computing has ramped up the demand for offsite data storage centers increasing the need for enterprise level hard disc drives.

Seagate contends that driven by the growth of cloud computing, cloud storage is quickly growing from a relatively small percentage of the overall IT market to a sustainable and significant opportunity. In response, the company has invested heavily in new product development spending over $1 billion in research and development in 2010, resulting in the creation of an extensive pipeline of new products and services. At the same time, Seagate’s senior management team has instituted a cultural transformation for its customer facing workforce to improve the company’s service, quality, reliability, delivery time, and order accuracy by providing a common language and a consistent methodology for how its employees meet customer requirements.

Under this ETP agreement Seagate will deliver training to expand employee skills so that they gain expertise to work in technological areas enabling them to adapt to changing business requirements and to improve their productivity. This training proposal will deliver a spectrum of skills that include, manufacturing, continuous improvement, business, and computer skills.

National wins additional $499,000 in AB118 Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program monies from the ETP. The overall goal of AB118 is to transform California’s vehicles to meet the State’s climate change policies.

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Contact: Arjun Israni – Dir. of Business Process Group and National Semiconductor University
3693 Tahoe Way
Santa Clara, CA 95052
Telephone: (408) 721-5169
Fax: (408) 721-1584
ETP Funding: $2,000,000

National Semiconductor makes integrated circuits that improve performance and energy efficiency in electronic systems with a diversified portfolio that includes power management circuits, audio and operational amplifiers, and communication interface products. National’s products are ideally situated for the electronic vehicle manufacturing industry enabling electric vehicles to consume less power, extend battery life and generate less heat. National’s management teams believe that the electric vehicle industry has reached the inflection point that the company has been waiting for, as automobile customers seek to reduce the negative impact on the environment and to save money spent on automobile fuel consumption.

National’s strategic goal is to become the leading IC manufacturer by increasing the efficiency of electric vehicles through chip set innovations in power management, sensor reliability, telematics, and infotainment. In response, National recently formed the Battery Management Systems (BMS) business unit to develop system level products and chipsets for battery monitoring and management solutions for large scale, Li-Ion based battery energy storage applications. Targeted applications for these ICs include Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (EV, PHEV, e-Bus, e-bike, e-scooter) and Li-ion based Grid Energy Storage. Company representatives state that products developed by the BMS segment have been well received resulting in new customer engagements with automotive companies such as Tesla Motors, Ford, GM, Nissan, Renault, BMW, Audi, Daimler and Volkswagen.

The proposed training is designed to address the skill gap between employees in National’s current California workforce and the skills required to design, develop, integrate, and manufacture technologies for vehicle technology markets. Rather than downsizing and outsourcing California-based jobs, the proposed training will assist National to retrain its existing California workforce in variety of new technologies to enhance product innovations and provide manufacturing solutions for the next generations of electric vehicles. This will enable National Semiconductor to compete for new customers on a global basis.

Abbott Medical Optics (AMO) wins $250,000 in workforce training funds.

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Since 2005, Abbott Labs has received over $2.75 million in ETP funds for three principal manufacturing operations in the State. With manufacturing facilities located throughout California, Abbott Vascular, Abbott Diabetes Care, and Abbott Medical Optics are wholly owned subsidiaries of Abbott Labs, the 118 year old corporation whose principal business is the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a broad and diversified line of health care products. Each company is uniquely focused on improving patient care by combining the latest medical device innovations with world-class pharmaceuticals, investments in research and development and advancements in medicine through training and education.

The manufacture of Abbott products is a highly exacting and complex process due in part to strict regulatory requirements imposed by the FDA and other international/domestic regulatory bodies. To be successful, Abbott must have an experienced, well trained California workforce that can understand and follow specific quality protocols and manufacturing procedures, work efficiently, and contribute to the high work standards required by the industry. With ETP support, Abbot has trained over 2,000 employees in a spectrum of skills that include advanced technology, manufacturing, continuous improvement, business, management, and computer skills in an effort to achieve the following objectives:

  • Improve “time to new product execution” a critical business initiative underlying AV’s core strategy.
  • Standardize processes, procedures, and protocols to ensure the quality and reliability of AV products.
  • Control product quality in design, development, testing, and manufacturing processes.
  • Transfer product knowledge through-out the organization from the laboratory bench to customer sales and service employees.

The partnership between Abbott Labs and the State of California has been a resounding success. And, with support from Governor Brown the ETP program will continue to foster the growth of good, high paying bio-tech manufacturing jobs here in our Great State. In all training funding contracts approved by ETP so far, Abbott Labs has helped ETP meets its own strategic goals by attaining the following:

  • Training was targeted to meet the need for a highly skilled workforce satisfying ETP’s mandate to foster job retention in industries threatened by out-of-state competition and for promoting the California manufacturing workforce.
  • Training was designed to enhance the skills of frontline employees meeting ETP’s priority in supporting companies developing its workers’ skills and prepare them for challenges of a high performance workforce.
  • The projects ensured that ETP funds were invested in an effort that targets high-wage jobs with good job promotional opportunities and above average retention. And, fostering the creation of high skilled jobs throughout California.

Abbott Diabetes Care receives approval of second ETP contract worth $500,000 to train 500 currently employed workers and new hires at its Alameda facility

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Contact: Tony Crea,
Director of Human Resources
Abbott Diabetes Care
1420 Harbor Bay Parkway, Suite 290
Alameda, CA 94502
ETP Funding $1.1 Million

Founded in 2004 and based in Alameda, California, Abbott Diabetes Care (ADC) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories. ADC develops and manufactures several glucose monitoring systems and test strips for use in both home and hospital settings. These products help reduce the discomfort and inconvenience of blood glucose monitoring, are easier to use, require less blood, and provide faster results.

Since it was founded, Abbott Diabetes Care has grown to employ 625 full-time workers, up from its original workforce of approximately 300, which was the company’s workforce when ADC’s first agreement was approved by the Panel as a “Critical Proposal” in 2004. ADC representatives report that the manufacture of its products is a highly exacting and complex process due to strict regulatory requirements imposed by the FDA. To be successful, the company must have a workforce that can understand and follow specific industry quality protocols and manufacturing procedures, while at the same time work efficiently.

In order to continue its employment growth, meet market demands, and produce the most advanced glucose monitoring technology, the company will deliver training to expand employee skills to meet these demands, adapt to changing business requirements, and to improve their productivity. 500 employees will receive between 24 -200 classroom/laboratory and/or CBT hours in a IT, quality, manufacturing, professional, and management development content.