Time Warner Cable’s new Clay training center to offer hands-on guidance

CLAY — Time Warner Cable on June 13 formally opened its first training facility in the Northeast, located at 7890 Davis Road in the town of Clay and adjacent to Interstate 481.

The facility, which includes a two-story building resembling a small house, will serve as a training center for more than 500 technicians in the Central New York area, the company said.

The structure provides a “great opportunity” for Time Warner Cable to allow its technicians (techs) to conduct hands-on training, Steve Makowski, area vice president of operations for Central New York, said while speaking to reporters at the formal opening. 

“It gives everybody the feel for what they’re going to be doing when they get into a house, which we haven’t done before,” Makowski said.

The facility will allow Time Warner’s training staff to help the techs “better” than what the firm has been able to provide in the past, he adds.

“A lot of folks put their TVs on walls now and we’ve got to be able to go in and drill down through the walls to make sure that … the wires aren’t outside,” he says.

Makowski believes the training facility will improve Time Warner Cable’s customer service “a lot.”

“They’re [the techs] going to be able to go through this [training process] and make sure that they’re getting it right before they even go out into the field,” he says.

Time Warner sees the new facility as a way to help train the new hires. 

“We average about six new hire classes per year, which [represents] 50 new techs annually,” Makowski says. 

The Davis Road facility also includes a pole farm.

“This is where the techs learn to climb poles to get up to be able to handle all the outside wiring that needs to be done,” he said. 

Time Warner technicians “typically” complete a 12-week training program before the company sends them into the field, he added.       

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com