The Raymond Corp. supports SkillsUSA competition

The Raymond Corp. continued its efforts to educate the next generation of skilled labor by participating in this week's 55th Annual National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Ky.

The SkillsUSA event brings together 6,500 technical education students from around the country to compete in hands-on events in more than 100 trade, technical, and leadership fields. Raymond representatives helped organize and judge the conference's welding fabrication competition, in which participants weld a shoe donation collection box based on design renderings from last year's student competitors, the company said. In collaboration with Louisville non-profit group WaterStep, the shoe collection boxes will be donated across the country to help fund the organization's clean water initiatives around the world.

Raymond representatives met with students during the event and showcased its Raymond Virtual Reality Simulator, a tool for training forklift operators. Company leaders say the VR Simulator is yet another way it is helping to attract new talent and help address the labor shortage many companies in the warehousing and distribution industry are facing.

"Participating in SkillsUSA is very important to us at Raymond, as it allows us to directly connect with students from across the United States, providing them with industry insights they may never have learned on their own," according to Dan Quiter, one of Raymond's welding trainers. "We are proud to be a part of creating the next generation of welding and manufacturing workers and help further shrink the skills gap and inspire young talent."

The SkillsUSA conference was held June 24-28, just about a month after Greene, N.Y.-based Raymond hosted its first High School Engineering Day, an educational and career event for students from across Southern New York.