Training from Within

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

February 9, 2026

Last Friday afternoon, I had the opportunity to witness the ribbon cutting of the Mountaire Farms Industrial and Technical Training Center in Selbyville. Mountaire joins a growing list of companies that are organizing formal onsite training facilities and programs for employees. The training site is across the street from a processing plant and administrative offices and is situated in what was a single-family home that has been completely remodeled, transforming former living spaces into classrooms. In a word, it’s impressive. But what is even more impressive is the number of employees raising their hands and volunteering for these advanced maintenance classes. After announcing the creation of another class, over 90 interested employees expressed interest, with fewer than 10 being accepted. Those are Ivy League school acceptance numbers!

In a Facebook post from this morning, Mountaire described the center as an opportunity for employees to grow their careers by building strong foundations in mechanical concepts and advanced maintenance skills. Through the Maintenance Trainee program, selected line workers participate in six months of structured training that combines classroom instruction with hands-on, on-the-job experience, preparing them for new maintenance roles across the company’s operations. After a successful pilot in Selbyville, the program has now been expanded to all four processing plants. Mountaire joins companies such as ALOFT Aeroarchitects, who launched the ALOFT Academy, as part of a growing group of employers investing directly in internal workforce development. If your organization is leading a similar effort, we encourage you to share it with us.

News You Can Use

On Monday and Tuesday, several Federal Reserve luminaries will speak on the economy, while on Tuesday we’ll see December retail sales figures and the January NFIB optimism index. The U.S. unemployment rate for January is released Wednesday morning, while existing home sales results for January are published on Thursday. We wrap up on Friday with the Consumer Price Index results for January.

On Monday, CNA Financial, Edgewell Personal Care, Arch Capital, Goodyear Tire, and others open up the week with scheduled earnings calls. The Tuesday lineup includes Coca-Cola, AstraZeneca, DuPont, Ecolab, Harley-Davidson, Incyte, Marriott, Ford Motor, Lyft, Zillow, and more. Wednesday calls are headlined by Shopify, CVS Health, Hilton, McDonald’s, T-Mobile US, Cisco, IFF, Pilgrim’s Pride, and more. CBRE Group, Exelon, Fortis, PBF Energy, PG&E, Instacart, Wendy’s, and others round out the week of earnings calls.

Michael J. Quaranta

President

Delaware State Chamber of Commerce

DEMEC represents and serves the nine municipal electric distribution utilities located in the State of Delaware. The continued goal and mission of DEMEC is to advance the principles of public power community ownership and provide competitive, reliable energy supply and services to their member’s communities.

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