Employee Growth Through Apprenticeships

In the northernmost point of the Mojave Desert, just south of the Pine Valley Mountains, Ray and Melzie Ganowsky founded a precision part manufacturer in their garage. Fifty years later, RAM Aviation, Space & Defense (RAM ASD) still prides itself on being family-owned and family-centered. The company prioritizes investing in its workforce, many of whom have been working for the company for more than 30 years and recently launched an apprenticeship program in that spirit.

Founded in 1975 as RAM Company, the Ganowskys eventually graduated from the garage to a 1,000-sq-ft (93-sq-m) facility with a single lathe and began designing, manufacturing, and assembling precision parts for large OEMs such as Kohler, Mack Truck, United Technologies, and others.

Now in a 250,000-sq-ft (23,225-sq-m), three-story building with 300 employees, RAM designs and manufactures precision components for various aerospace programs in the military and defense, commercial aviation, legacy space (shuttle program and International Space Station) and commercial space markets.

“We manufacture valves and solenoids at RAM, so every Dragon Capsule from SpaceX, whether it’s crew or cargo, all have thrusters that we make on it right here in St. George,” says Brad Davis, RAM’s machine shop manager. “F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Boeing, Airbus—you name it, we’re on it. We have valves and solenoids on just about everything.”

Growth Incentives

Davis has run the RAM ASD shop floor for nine years, but he was born and raised in California, where he finished his own apprenticeship in the late ’90s. Eventually, he and his three children relocated to St. George, Utah, for a change of scenery.

“St. George is this little, tiny community an hour and a half away from Las Vegas in the southern west corner of the state, all the way at the bottom. It isn’t like where I was raised in California, where it’s a manufacturing hub of the world. St. George had a different job market, so trying to find skilled, talented journeyman machinists is almost impossible,” Davis laments.

When RAM ASD started to need more skilled machinists to keep up with the volume of its workload, Davis looked back at his own career path for inspiration.

“The biggest thing that made a difference for me was an apprenticeship program,” he says. “So, I started diving in and trying to figure out how to get that going so I could take entry-level employees here at RAM and offer them a career path with school and pay incentives. Davis worked with the State of Utah Department of Labor to develop an apprenticeship program that fits RAM’s culture and requirements. He found the flexibility and range of courses offered by Tooling U-SME were perfect for RAM’s workforce.

“We have over 45 CNC machines in the shop,” Davis says, citing Mazak, Haas, Citizen, and old Hardinge CNCs with FANUC controllers and everything else. “So being able to dive into Tooling U-SME, that had Haas-specific, Mazak-specific, FANUC-specific (units), and to be able to have all of the apprentices be open for any machine or equipment in that plant and be able to learn all those different processes means they’re not just set up on one machine.”

Raising the Bar—$1 at a Time

RAM launched its program in August 2024 with 11 apprentices. It’s a four-year program that includes 8,000 on-the-job hours and 576 classroom hours, 400 done through Tooling U-SME courses and 176 focused on internal processes specific to the company. Currently, the program is only offered to RAM employees, such as those in assembly or deburring positions.

Employees with a history of a good work ethic, attendance, and production can apply for the apprenticeship. They then are interviewed by a panel of existing apprentices, who also are undergoing supervisor training.

“Our class schedule goes through everything from OSHA all the way down to lean manufacturing, machine-specific blueprints, and math,” Davis says. “There are a bunch of basic management classes in there too if that is something they might be interested in.”

The company offers a $1 raise every six months to apprentices who meet their production and classroom hour goals. Apprentices are also allowed funds to help cover the cost of their equipment and Tooling U-SME program. This is possible, in part, thanks to the support of the State of Utah, which worked with Davis to find and apply for apprenticeship grant funds. “These guys and gals are getting set up from the beginning with zero debt and the tools to do their job, money to pay for their school, and get going on that right path so they can have an $8-per-hour raise over the four years of the program,” Davis says.

Once launched, the program spread like wildfire with a waitlist that continues to grow. Davis says he’s already getting calls from high school students saying, ‘I’m graduating in June, how do I start your apprenticeship program?’

Ongoing Efforts

Davis’s work doesn’t begin and end within the RAM shop floor. He understands that thriving manufacturing communities require early support in education. To this end, he’s working with the Washington County School District and the State of Utah to create a CNC machinist class for high school students. If implemented, students who take the course in high school will earn credits that would count toward RAM’s internal apprenticeship program.

“When I was 18 years old, trying to get through college was not something I was into,” Davis acknowledges. “So, finding the apprenticeship program and going that way allowed me to develop my career, care for my family, and have no debt.

“I didn’t graduate college with $100,000 worth of debt and try to start working at the age of 24,” he continues. “I was working from day one, and that’s what we’re trying to give these people in high school; if college isn’t for you and you want to start a trade, you can jump-start and have a whole career already set up by the time you’re 20.”

Circular Benefits

Matt Brickner is one of the 11 original RAM apprentices. He worked in physical therapy for nearly 30 years before deciding it was time for a change. As a metal and woodworker hobbyist, Brickner found machining to align with his interests and took a deburring position at RAM about two years ago.

Looking for an opportunity to advance in his new career, Brickner applied for the apprenticeship program soon after joining RAM. It allowed him to progress much faster than would otherwise have been possible.

“Just having another avenue to gain knowledge, to do things hands on is great,” Brickner says. “Some of the perks with the program are great: We’re basically being allotted funds for tooling and all sorts of different things. I mean, we were given $2,500, which really helps put you on a path that most of us couldn’t afford.”

Looking forward to advancing further and becoming a certified machinist, Brickner is especially interested in continuing his education with CNC programming.

“Through Tooling U-SME, we aren’t really limited on what we can research,” he says. “We have certain things that are mandatory, but also, if we wanted to go and watch videos and read on things that aren’t in our curriculum, we’re able to do that.”

Being an apprentice also has impacted Brickner’s leisure activities. While he previously got by with self-taught woodworking techniques, his home projects are becoming more efficient and completed with greater accuracy as he becomes more skilled on the shop floor, according to Brickner.

The apprenticeship program also strengthens what Davis describes as a mutually beneficial relationship between RAM and its employees.

“For RAM to give me all the support in the world to go ahead and pull the trigger and back me up in dollar raises every six months. They see the need,” Davis says. “And to be able to take people like Matt who showed an aptitude and wanted to learn and grow; or take some of our new people that are younger and just want to start their careers—it’s all been very, very beneficial.”