Kent Zimmerman, principal of Workforce Development Resources, formed this service to cost-effectively help organizations maintain their global competitiveness. In order to improve the technical training capabilities of industrial employers and training organizations, he utilizes proven analytical, technical and design skills accumulated over thirty-five years .
As director of the Center for Business & Industry at Northampton Community College for seventeen years, Mr. Zimmerman has worked with hundreds of organizations to deliver a broad range of needs assessment, skills testing, program development, training, and consulting services. He has a particularly strong talent in identifying areas for organizational improvement and developing/implementing new processes or programs that fill the gap. Prior to building a very successful community college technical training center and creating the Industrial Maintenance Institute for portable training at the actual employee worksites, he worked for fifteen years in R&D, manufacturing engineering and technical supervision for Lutron Electronics Co., Inc., the world leader in the consumer and commercial lighting control industry. In his role as product engineer, he was responsible for developing manufacturing and testing processes required for advanced solid-state lighting control and energy management product lines.
In the past, Mr. Zimmerman has worked directly with hundreds of employers such as Crayola, Victaulic Company of America, Mittal Steel, Nestles-Purina, Volvo Mack Trucks, Organon USA, US Steel, Cooper Industries, S&L Plastics, Kraft Foods, Diversey Corp., James River Dixie Plant, Behr Paints, Sanofi-Pasteur, M&M Mars, Air Products & Chemicals (Ashland plant), Nestle Waters, LANTA and B. Braun Medical. He has also developed training partnerships between Northampton Community College's Center for Business & Industry and such post-secondary institutions as Montgomery County Community College, Penn College of Technology, Lehigh Carbon Community College, Bucks County Community College, East Stroudsburg University, Lehigh University, and Penn State University in Pennsylvania and Raritan Valley Community College, Warren County Community College, Cumberland Community College, and Union County Community College in New Jersey.
Mr. Zimmerman is trained and experienced in job profiling and training needs assessment using various methodologies including DACUM analysis. He is a trained Industrial Agent through Penn State University and holds technical and business degrees including an MBA from Lehigh University.
Technical Experts and Instructors: WDR is associated with a qualified pool of trainers and consultants, industry practitioners with over twenty-five years experience in their fields along with appropriate industry certifications. Fields of expertise cover such areas as ISO 9001:2000 quality standards, vendor quality, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, AutoCAD, welding, plastics processes, electrical controls and PLCs, electrical safety, electronics soldering and assembly, CPM project management, OSHA safety, and Hazwoper.