SANFORD - At some moment during a recent training session for employees at Marelli, the automotive parts manufacturer, Central Carolina Community College passed a significant milestone: It had provided 10,000 hours of industrial training designed specifically around the needs of local companies.

That's a figure that averages out to more than 27 hours of training every week, even counting holidays and weeks during the year when no classes are scheduled.

Leaders in education, government and industry celebrated the accomplishment -- and the facility that made it possible -- during a ceremony and reception on Oct. 17 at the Howard-James Industry Training Center.

Most of the half-dozen speakers on the program focused on the impact training has had in their companies and on the many partnerships that made it happen.

Dreama Pilson, Human Resources Manager for CTI Systems, recalled a massive expansion two years ago at her company that builds automated conveyor systems. CTI Systems managed to triple its workforce in less than two years, something she said could never have happened without training provided by the college.

The Human Resources Director from Pilgrim's poultry processing facility, Jaimee Chavis-Handsborough, made a similar point, telling the audience how CCCC provided Pilgrim's with customized training in "soft skills" -- leadership, coaching and even a team-building session that included a spirited game of kickball. That partnership between the college and her company, she said, was essential to Pilgrim's success.

Other partnerships were highlighted as well. Lee County Manager Dr. John A. Crumpton described how he and then-economic development director Bob Heuts found and purchased a building for the new training center in record time -- a project that couldn't have happened without assistance from the Lee County Board of Commissioners. Robert Jones, Managing Partner of the Solomon EOS training and consulting firm, talked about change now sweeping through industry and credited CCCC Director of Industry Services Cathy Swindell with assembling the trainers and equipment necessary for companies to remain competitive.

And Bob Joyce, Director of Development for the Sanford Area Growth Alliance, brought the message home. He began by reminding everyone about the announcement made last month at the North Carolina Governor's Mansion that Kalyani Group had selected Sanford as the location for its new, $170 million manufacturing plant that will eventually employ as many as 460 people.

"I can say with confidence that this (industrial training) facility was one of the principal assets that allowed us to recruit Kalyani Group," he said. "We would not have been able to prove to that company that we could train the workforce that they need without this facility."

Dr. Lisa M. Chapman echoed the appreciation others expressed for partnerships that elevate the community. Before she was named president of CCCC last spring, she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer for the North Carolina Community College System in Raleigh, where she became very familiar with what is happening in communities across the Old North State.

During her remarks, Dr. Chapman said there is no community that has the kind of cooperative environment that defines Lee, Chatham and Harnett counties, and that makes it one of the most exciting places to work. "It's the relationships that we've established," she said, "that allow us to do things that we've been talking about."

To learn more about Central Carolina Community College and its programs, visit www.cccc.edu.