(MARSHALL, Texas) – Construction equipment supplier HOLT CAT recently sent six representatives from several of its Texas locations to tour the new Diesel Power Technologies Center at Texas State Technical College’s Marshall campus.
The campus’s Diesel Equipment Technology instructors led the representatives through the new facility, showcasing its classrooms and training equipment. HOLT CAT was the first company to tour the building.
Craig Johnson, service manager for HOLT CAT’s Georgetown location, was excited to return to the Marshall campus since two of his children are TSTC alumni.
“It is very nice, well laid out, (with) lots of good supplies and tools,” Johnson said of the new building. “It’s going to do a great job.”
Don Hardwick, regional service manager for HOLT CAT’s east-central region, serves on the advisory board for the Diesel Equipment Technology program at TSTC’s Waco campus. He called the Marshall campus’s Diesel Power Technologies Center “first class.”
“I believe that the exposure to the equipment and to these tools is going to much better prepare (graduates) to go right into the workforce,” he said. “We hire a lot of young people out of the diesel programs, and we have multiple stores. So if somebody doesn’t mind moving away from home, they can find a spot pretty much anywhere in the state they want to go.”
Jake Giebel, service manager for HOLT CAT’s Longview and Tyler locations, oversees the internship program at both sites, with several interns being hired directly from TSTC. He said the accessibility to machinery that the Marshall campus’s new building provides will give students a better understanding of the work they can do if they were to work for HOLT CAT.
“I think a lot of pride is going to be instilled by having this new building,” Giebel said. “I think TSTC is going to bring in a lot more people and have a lot more people excited to get into this side of the industry.”
According to onetonline.org, bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists earn an average of $56,780 per year in Texas, where the number of such jobs was projected to increase 19% from 2020 to 2030.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
