New Guilford Technical Community College lithium-ion battery manufacturing class put this graduate on path to a new career

“I learn better with hands on, when they let me get my hands on batteries, I learned very quickly and very efficiently."

Adrick Parrott was hard at work one day at his job as a forklift driver when he was hit with a realization: It was quite possible his job could soon be filled by a robot.

“I started thinking, can I do this in 10 to 15 years,” Parrott recalled. “Will a machine be able to do what I do with a forklift? It was then I realized I needed to start thinking about something different.”

Parrott’s wife, Saily, a Guilford Technical Community College nursing student, discovered a very different path forward for him.

“She saw a flyer about this on campus. She said, ‘You could do this and learn how to build batteries,’ and I thought, 'That’s it,'” recalled Parrot.

The flyer announced a new GTCC course in partnership with the Carolina Battery Institute (CBI) and Soelect, Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing, that “provides an in-depth understanding of overall lithium-ion battery principles, battery manufacturing processes.” The course teaches students about battery materials, including chemistry, electrode preparation, and electrode characterization. It also provides step-by-step coin-cell assembly training. After completing the program, students will be prepared for entry-level work as an Electric Battery Assembly Technician.

Parrott was immediately sold on the opportunity to take the six-week class, which he finished in late June.

“It pretty much opened my mind. I always thought batteries were batteries, not something that was evolving every year, evolving constantly,” said Parrott.

This new class is the result of the need for skilled workers in battery manufacturing with the recent influx of battery manufacturing companies to the Triad, including Toyota’s new battery plant in Liberty, and Soelect, a Greensboro-based company that develops solid-state battery components for a wide range of energy storage uses, such as electric vehicles and portable electronics.

The six-week course covering lithium-ion batteries, the small, flat coin-sized batteries, was intense, the 35-year-old Parrott said.

“The class taught me the lingo of batteries and also taught me how to make lithium-ion batteries. The class taught all the ins and outs; how to charge a battery, how to discharge a battery. We learned all the chemical compounds involved. We learned about conductivity.”

Parrott said he found his sweet spot when the class moved into a hands-on mode.

“I learn better with hands-on, when they let me get my hands on batteries, I learned very quickly and very efficiently. By the end of the course, the instructor left me alone to build a battery,” said Parrott, who built about a dozen batteries in the class.

Parrott has already had one job interview since completing the course and expects more. The basic battery class will make a world of difference for him, he said.

“Because of this class, I feel like I have a leg up," said Parrott. "There are going to be a lot of people hired in this industry. I now know at least the basics and have hands-on experience.”

For more information on the Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing class, visit gtcc.edu/batteryassembly.