Ford offers fast-track technician certification program at Gwinnett Tech

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. - As Georgia positions itself to be a hub for the electric transportation industry, it is expanding its trade school programs to support it. 

"We are still going to have the combustible engine," Anthony Davis, a Ford Motor Company technical placement specialist, said. "I see that being around for another 20 to 30 years, but we are going electric."

The Ford Motor Company has joined with Gwinnett Tech for a fast-track certification in the EV field called the Ford ASSET Program. 

"A technician is a highly trained employee in a dealership," Davis told the FOX 5 I-Team. 

Jeff Janes, the Ford ASSET program director said, "It's a way students can get master certified with our Ford and Lincoln dealerships in two years. With this, they are able to get an associate's degree in applied technology."

He added that it can often take six to eight years to get to this high-paying level. But the need is so great and technology is changing from fuel to electric very quickly, so this hands-on environment can be a game-changer for students.

We met up with Stephen Tipton, a Ford Chassis Master, at Billy Hembree Ford, a Jim Ellis Dealership in Sandy Springs. He was wearing a camera on his head and pointing it toward the engine. It's called "See What I See" or the SWIS system. 

"Anybody who is familiar with the movie Iron Man, it works a lot like that. It's got a display in here and a camera in here," he said pointing to his headband. "The camera here will actually show people at our hotline or technical assistance center what it is that I'm actually seeing."

Nineteen-year-old Ethan Durst from a Spartanburg tech school, drives into the dealership for work. 

"I go two months, on two months off, so it's eight weeks back, eight weeks at school. And so when I'm at school, say, I learn HVAC, AC, I go and apply that at work the next two months I'm here."

With four-year college enrollment down, this may be the road to get on.

"It's definitely evolved," said Tipton. "And a lot of it for the better."