Bluffton. This was the first time that a governor had visited GROB Systems. In fact, visits of this kind are somewhat rare at the company. "So we were very surprised to receive official notification that the Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, wanted to come and visit us in Bluffton," recalls Michael Hutecker, President of GROB Systems.
Then it all happened very quickly. There were less than 48 hours between the first phone call and the governor’s arrival at the GROB factory. “We had very little time to prepare and just about managed to invite a few other politicians like the mayors of Bluffton and Findlay to provide a suitable backdrop to the visit.” The reason for his visit also soon became clear. Kasich had heard about GROB’s apprenticeship scheme and wanted to find out more for himself on site as he was keen to see similar training programs implemented at other companies in Ohio. "But he wasn’t just impressed with our apprenticeship program," says Hutecker. "He was also surprised at how clean our factory was and he particularly praised the great working conditions here."
