Shop owner praises Young Memorials machinist program

As baby boomers retire, they’re taking technical skills out of the workforce as they go.
That’s why Scott Tudury, owner of Apex CNC in Morgan City, is glad to see the new machinist certification program at South Central Louisiana Technical College’s Young Memorial campus here.
“I don’t have time to train them,” Tudury said. “I would rather hire a machinist that has the fundamentals first.
“I can show them how to work the machine. That’s not the hard part.”
Tudury was the keynote speaker Wednesday for St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce’s event Rise and Shine event at Young Memorial.
Much of the machinist training prepares Young Memorial students for the oil and gas industry, which is currently experiencing job losses. However, those skills can be transferred to other fields.
Fourteen students have enrolled in the machinist certification program at Young Memorial. It’s a one-semester course lasting 16 weeks.
At present, Breck Chaisson, director of trades and project manager at Fletcher Technical Community College, is instructing students. This inaugural class is Chaisson’s project assignment for the semester until the school can find a permanent instructor.
“With this training, they can work in quality and inspection departments of a company,” Tudury said. “They don’t actually have to make the parts but giving them the fundamental education is what they need to make a good living.”
Tudury was chosen to speak “for a very good reason. No. 1, he owns a machine shop,” said Donna Meyer, president of St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce.
Meyer’s Leadership St. Mary class of 2012 toured Tudury’s facility.
“It was unbelievable because it was all about robotics,” Meyer said. “Never had I seen a machine shop so clean and totally run by computers.”
After a conversation between Tudury and members of the leadership class about a lack of skilled machinists and a need for training at the vocational tech school, the 2012 class decided to take on creating a machinist certification program as their project.
The leadership class of 2013, which included Tudury, moved the project idea on to the next phase.
“Leadership St. Mary did the right thing by getting this class rolling,” said Tudury.
“When you train them here the opportunity for them to work here is greater than if they went out of town to go to school,” Meyer said.
“We’ve created the opportunity for many young people or anyone to go to class in our parish. That’s why we had Scott come talk to us today because he’s a part of that process.”
Next year, Tudury plans to get involved in the school community.
He wants to present a program designed to engage and inspire youth towards a career in manufacturing.
Tudury’s company is responsible for the videos taken inside the sunken ocean liner Titanic. The parts were built in his shop.
“I built all the components for the small ROV (remote operated vehicle) for the Titanic,” Tudury said. “I produced most of the mechanical parts for that ROV here in Morgan City.”\

This story was written by Shea Drake of The Daily Review staff. Reach her at sdrake@daily-review.com.