Seven months after opening, the workforce training center known as The WorkSITE has added classes and is looking to expand its partnership with local industries.
“It has been very, very, very busy,” said WorkSITE Executive Director Kacey Darnell. “We are just now starting to be able to catch our breath.”
The WorkSITE is a collaboration among Texas State Technical College, McLennan County and the city of Waco to fill the gaps in workforce development.
The 26,000-square-foot training center is located at 2501 Wycon Drive, and many of its trainees come from nearby factories, including the massive Graphic Packaging International paper mill now under construction. TSTC runs the $17 million training center, which was built with the aid of $9 million in city and county funds.
The specialized training is meant to help employees boost their skills and move up the pay ladder. Area leaders see it as a recruiting magnet for industry in a time when a trained workforce is key to relocation decisions.
“If we continue to expand opportunity by bringing the right kind of companies in here that pay good wages, we’re more apt to keep folks here, especially those that were raised around this area,” McLennan County Judge Scott Felton said.
“We have the training infrastructure in place, and we have the facilities in place, and they’re in the location where most of the industrial growth is happening,” Felton said.
Other Waco plants using The WorkSITE for training include Toppan Packaging and the floor component company Uzin Utz. Discussions are under way about adding Electrolit, Mars and Tractor Supply to the list.
Graphic Packaging has already trained nearly 250 employees as it prepares to open a billion-dollar paper recycling plant off Gateway Boulevard. The operation will be highly automated, and company officials have said the average annual pay will be about $65,000.
“We recognize the critical importance of having a highly skilled workforce,” a Graphic Packaging spokesperson said in an email to The Waco Bridge. “Our company is the largest producer of recycled paperboard.
“That requires highly trained and proficient manufacturing technicians. The expansion of TSTC’s programs inside of The WorkSITE has significantly impacted the success of our recruiting, and it continues to support our workforce development needs for qualified technicians.”
Graphic Packaging chose Waco as its location due to the proximity to multiple major cities and fast growth.
“Waco is within three hours of over 20 million people,” said Rick Tullis, who is on the business advisory committee for The WorkSITE. “So if you’re a distribution business, and you’ve got facilities in all major cities in Texas. I mean, this is a great place to put your hub, right?”
In addition to providing courses for industrial safety training, OSHA and forklift certification, WorkSITE officials hope to continue to recruit and expand the center’s offerings.
On Monday, The WorkSITE debuted a new grant-supported course in industrial automation and manufacturing systems.
The grant allowed The WorkSITE to support 24 students, giving them vouchers for gas, steel-toed boots and tools and equipment. Students will leave with seven credentials from the Smart Automation Certification Alliance. After opening class enrollment, the slots quickly filled up.
In addition, the grant covered three robots to be used in training in industrial safety systems.
Darnell hopes to see the continued growth of the training center.
“I definitely want to see that continue forever, and that that’s going to include more industry utilizing the space and sending people for training,” Darnell said. “It’s going to mean more people from the community coming in and taking these upskilling opportunities and going to work.
“And with more industry that’s coming into Waco, that really needs to be a focus for everyone: to get people into a technical education (and) to have people to fill these amazing jobs that are about to come up.”
Disclosure: Texas State Technical College is a financial supporter of The Waco Bridge, a nonprofit news organization that is funded in part by donations from individual donors, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Bridge’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Correction, Sept. 16, 2025, 2:34 p.m. Central: An earlier version of this story misstated the full name of the Smart Automation Certification Alliance. It has been corrected.
