Inside the August 2026 Issue: |
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APC Excellence in Partnership Award |
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The Alabama Productivity Center is proud to recognize Rylee Anderson, Education and Community Partnerships Specialist at Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, as the recipient of our 2026 Excellence in Partnership Award.
The Excellence in Partnership Award recognizes an individual or organization that demonstrates a strong commitment to developing Alabama’s workforce and building meaningful connections between education and industry.
Rylee has been a valued partner in strengthening connections among students, educators, and industry, creating opportunities for students to clearly understand the careers and opportunities available to them across Alabama.
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At APC, we believe that strong partnerships are essential to developing a skilled workforce and creating lasting impact for Alabama businesses and students. We are grateful for Rylee’s continued commitment to that mission and proud to recognize her contributions with this year’s Excellence in Partnership Award.
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Congratulations, Rylee, and thank you for your continued partnership with APC! |
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Summer 2026 Internship Project Impacts |
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This summer, 32 APC interns worked with 11 companies across Alabama, from Huntsville to Orange Beach, tackling real business challenges and identifying opportunities to improve operations, reduce costs, and create value.
To date, our Summer 2026 interns have helped identify $18,144,903 in total documented impacts, including 72 jobs retained and 1 job created. We are still collecting final results from several internships, so we expect this number to grow.
These impacts represent a wide range of improvements identified through student projects, including increased or retained sales, reduced costs and waste, improved quality and customer satisfaction, time savings, reduced inventory and rework, energy savings, risk and fine avoidance, and investments in new products, technology, equipment, processes, and workforce development.
Most importantly, these aren't simply numbers generated by APC. Students work alongside their company mentors to identify and quantify the impact of their projects, with results reviewed and approved by the company.
The result? Students gain meaningful, hands-on experience solving real business problems while Alabama companies benefit from measurable improvements.
And we're not done yet. Final summer impact numbers are still coming in, with more stories of student-driven results to come.
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Interested in bringing an APC intern to your organization and creating measurable impact?
Email us to start the conversation. |
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APC Team Members Earn IATF 16949 Lead Auditor Certifications |
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The Alabama Productivity Center is expanding its support for Alabama manufacturers and other industry partners by adding IATF 16949:2016 Lead Auditor certifications for APC team members Ben Baxter and Alan Hill.
IATF 16949 is an internationally recognized quality management standard for the automotive industry. This certification strengthens APC’s ability to support automotive clients with quality and auditing needs while also benefiting APC’s broader client base: the IATF 16949 Lead Auditor certification also qualifies as an ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor certification.
This expands APC’s capabilities beyond contract internal auditing. While internal auditors evaluate an organization’s internal processes and systems, lead auditors can also audit an organization’s suppliers, providing an additional resource for companies looking to strengthen their quality systems and supplier performance.
With Ben and Alan’s certifications, APC now has expanded expertise to help companies evaluate their quality management systems, internal processes, and supplier performance.
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Interested in learning how APC’s auditing capabilities could support your organization? Contact Ben Baxter or Alan Hill to discuss your needs. |
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Area governors, power company executives and university presidents recently established the Mississippi-Alabama-Georgia Network for Evolving Transportation, or MAGNET for short — a regional economic development initiative aimed at leveraging the Southeastern U.S. automotive vehicle and battery industry to stimulate economic development and job growth.
Read the story here
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Next-generation industrial energy management is being tested in Alabama through a pilot project between the Alabama Mobility and Power Center and energy solutions company PowerBox Technology.
Read the story here
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Hanwha Defense USA has won a contract to deliver six prototype K9 Mobile Howitzers to the U.S. Army’s new Mobile Tactical Cannon program. This is the company’s first major contract with the Army, and it will prepare the artillery systems for delivery in Opelika.
Read the story here
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Interested in having your story featured? Use the link below to submit news and updates, and APC may feature it in an upcoming edition of The APC Advantage.
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Founded in 1986 on the campus of The University of Alabama, Alabama Productivity Center is a nonprofit organization focused on strengthening Alabama’s workforce, industries, and economic development through education, industry partnerships, professional services, and student engagement opportunities, including a unique internship program.
APC continues supporting businesses and communities across the state through workforce development, operational support, and collaborative industry initiatives.
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This is a publication of the Alabama Productivity Center | Culverhouse College of Business | ATN Tuscaloosa Center |
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