(Secaucus, NJ—September 23, 2016) Students majoring in Engineering Tech at High Tech and their instructors received a rare opportunity to tour Goya Foods’ newly retooled manufacturing plant as part of Junior Achievement of New Jersey’s Job Shadow program, announced Dr. Joseph Giammarella, Principal of High Tech High School.
Sergio Gamarra and Harry Peles, who teach engineering technology classes, and Gregory Simon, supervisor of the Digital Design and Fabrication Academy (D/FAB), joined the Engineering Tech majors on a tour hosted by Anthony Figueroa of Goya Foods’ public relations department. They witnessed automated manufacturing equipment that produces 600 boxes of pre-packaged rice each minute and learned about quality control, logistics, and Goya’s global distribution methods. After the plant tour, the High Tech Engineering Tech students and teachers traveled to Goya Foods’ corporate headquarters, where executives discussed work and the goings-on at GOYA.
Goya, the largest Hispanic-owned food manufacturer in the U.S., produces four million cases of goods like beans, rice, and flour at the plant. Originally, the plant had housed the company's headquarters before it moved in June 2014 to nearby Jersey City. Originally founded in 1936 by Don Prudencio Unanue Ortiz, who immigrated to New York City, Goya Foods started out by selling imported Spanish olives and olive oil, but now posts annual sales of almost $1.5 billion.
Junior Achievement (JA) Job Shadow offers students an opportunity to visit a professional work environment, where they gain insights into the requirements needed for earning a position. JA programs always correlate to state educational standards and to Common Core State Standards.
High Tech’s Engineering Tech major, a blend of metal fabrication and advanced manufacturing or "Mechatronics," provides student with the chance to apply engineering research principles as they design and construct solutions. This student learning experience (SLE) permits students to take a look at a state-of-the-art automated advanced manufacturing
