As demand for industrial maintenance technicians grows across our region, the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center’s (MAMC) Systems Maintenance, Automation and Robotics Technology (SMART) career skills program is growing as well.
MAMC is pleased to announce the addition of three industry professionals as SMART instructors. Seth Clark of Milton, Sean Meddings of Genoa and Blayne Savage of Morehead, Ky., will teach students in Huntington and Point Pleasant as well as deliver train-the-trainer services for Apprenticeship Works,* MAMC’s National Advanced Manufacturing Apprenticeship Partnership. Industrial maintenance technician is the most popular apprenticeship offered by the program to manufacturers nationwide.
Clark, a native of Culloden, is a graduate of Milton High School and attended Marshall University, the University of Kentucky and West Virginia University Institute of Technology, from which he earned a mechanical engineering degree.
Before joining MAMC, Clark worked at Diamond Electric in Putnam County for 22 years. He worked his way up from manufacturing engineer to manufacturing engineer manager and served as plant manager for the past five years.
Based at MAMC Huntington, Clark will teach classes there and ones at the Marshall University Mid-Ohio Valley Center in Point Pleasant.
A love of teaching runs in Clark’s family. “My mother was a teacher in Putnam County for 35 years. I grew up sitting in on her classes. When I got old enough, I would help grade math and science homework and tests. Even as a manufacturing engineer, I would teach skills and techniques to our engineers, maintenance crew and other team members. That was a part of my job I always loved.”
Meddings is a native of Dunlow and a graduate of Tolsia High School. He studied industrial electricity at the Cabell County Career Technology Center and earned a career and technical education teaching certification from WVU Tech.
His industry experience includes working as a mining electrician in Logan, an industrial electrician at Sogefi in Prichard as well as teaching industrial electricity at Spring Valley High School and advanced manufacturing at Tolsia High School.
Meddings will teach electrical systems, blueprint/schematics reading and motor controls to SMART students in Huntington and Point Pleasant.
“I’m really excited about the job here at MAMC, being able to work with cutting-edge industrial equipment and helping guide young adults in reaching their full potential,” he said.
Savage, a native of Louisa, Ky., is a graduate of Lawrence County (Ky.) High School. He earned associate and bachelor’s degrees in design and manufacturing engineering technology from Morehead State University.
In his near decade in manufacturing, Savage has worked as CNC operator and line lead for Lexington Metal Systems in Mount Sterling, Ky.; as well as manufacturing engineer for Regal Rexnord in Morehead.
Savage primarily will teach SMART students at MAMC Huntington as well as deliver industrial maintenance train-the-trainer services to companies across the country as part of Apprenticeship Works or at MAMC’s National Advanced Manufacturing Apprenticeship Hub in Huntington.
“I was attracted to teaching because it offers the ability to bring up the next generation of associates and give them a solid head start in the manufacturing industry,” he said.
In response to industry demand, MAMC launched the SMART program in August 2024 in partnership with Mountwest Community and Technical College and with input from more than two dozen area manufacturers. Individuals who complete the skill program earn individual industry certifications as well as an associate of applied sciences degree through Mountwest. Students often land paid apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships with industry while still in school. To learn more, visit www.mfg.marshall.edu/smart.
*The total cost of Apprenticeship Works is $11,603,847. The $11,603,847 (100 percent) is funded through two U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration grants.
Oct. 28, 2025
