KIHOMAC executives tour South Georgia Technical College programs
A team of executives from KIHOMAC, a veteran owned small business with offices nationwide designed to service an array of capabilities, recently visited the South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) campus to tour specific program areas to help expand their current workforce and explore partnership opportunities.
Jeff Krimmer, Director of Operations, AIPG; Matt Isley, Sr. Program Manager; Sidney Smith, KIHOMAC Electronics Manufacturing Manager, NavCom LLC; and Bruce Barnes, KIHOMAC Supply Chair Manager, from the Byron facilities met with SGTC President Dr. John Watford, Academic Deans Dr. David Finley and Brett Murray and SGTC Vice President of Institutional Advancement Su Ann Bird to tour the campus and visit specific program areas to talk with instructors and students.
KIHOMAC supports customers across the Department of Defense and Commercial Industry. Their exacting standards bring quality processes and attention to detail, creating trusted solutions, integration, development manufacturing and other services. KIHOMAC facilities are sized to efficiently produce prototypes and handle small or large production runs of high engineering content and complex aerospace facilities. They are expanding manufacturing facilities in the Byron/Warner Robins area and are currently hiring for a variety of skilled positions.
The KIHOMAC officials were interested in touring the South Georgia Technical College Electronics, Aviation Maintenance, Aircraft Structural, Industrial Electrical, Precision Machining and Manufacturing, and Welding and Joining programs.
SGTC President Dr. John Watford enjoyed showing Sidney Smith and Bruce Barnes a 1982 annual and helping them find their photos.
Sidney Smith and Bruce Barnes were graduates of the South Georgia Tech Electronics program in 1983 and this was their first visit back to the Americus campus. “This campus has certainly changed a lot since we were here,” laughed Smith. Barnes agreed and said, “it doesn’t look anything like when we were here.” But they were both pleased with the improvements as well as the training that students still receive from their alma mater.
The two KIHOMAC employees reminisced about their former instructors: Bill Moncrief, Perry Morrison, James Seymour, and W.R. Rooks, and some of the good times they had while learning skills that would provide them with careers that have spanned over four decades.
Both Smith and Barnes graduated in 1983 and both went to work for the same company that has been bought and sold several times and is now a member of KIHOMAC family. They have been working together since graduation and Matt Isley, Sr., laughed and said, “not only have they worked together since graduation, but they also ride to work together. They are almost inseparable at work and probably spend more time together than they do with their own families.”
KIHOMAC officials Matt Isley, Sidney Smith, Jeff Krimmer and Bruce Barnes are shown above with SGTC Electronics Instructor Mike Collins during a tour of the SGTC Electronics lab and classroom area.
Smith lives in Talbotton and Barnes lives in Butler. The daily commute gives them time to brainstorm, problem solve and plan for the upcoming day. Jeff Krimmer, Director of Operations, AIPG, for KIHOMAC, praised their skills and their work ethics. “These two gentlemen are a major reason for KIHOMAC purchasing and expanding in this area. They are talented, skilled, and dedicated. Even though they were working in a relatively small shop, we discovered that they delivered on-time and produced a much better product that other larger companies around the world, which also proved to be a cost savings in the long run.”
That type of individual with the ability to learn, dedicated to producing a quality product, and employees willing to go the extra mile are the qualities that KIHOMAC is looking for to help them fill positions once they move into their new 130,000-foot facility in mid-November.
Positions currently open include: journeyman wire harness technician for Aerospace Integrity Programs, Craftsman Wire Harness Technician for Aerospace Integrity Programs as well as Journeyman Logistician for Aerospace Integrity Programs.
The company also needs employees for Aerospace welding, complete item manufacturing and assembly, tool design and fabrication, metals manufacturing, advanced composite manufacturing, and more.
Their manufacturing capability uniquely blends engineering and fabrication proficiencies. KIHOMAC is an AS9100D certified company with a proven track record of delivering difficult-to-make parts and assemblies. They design parts and tools, perform structural analysis and detailed modeling capabilities when non-reoccurring engineering is needed. The wiring harnesses they design and build range from high-speed data cables, digital video cables and large gauge power cables, to complex branched wire harness assemblies, including coaxial, twinaxial, triaxial and quadraxial contracts.
South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) is one of the oldest technical colleges in Georgia. It also is one of only two technical colleges in Georgia with on-campus housing. SGTC has been ranked as the top two-year college in Georgia for five consecutive years and was named the 8th best two-year college in the nation as well as the 16th Best Value Two-Year college for 2025-2026. SGTC provides students with the “complete college experience” and has nationally ranked academics, student activities, and intercollegiate athletics.
SGTC is the Caterpillar Heavy Equipment Dealers Service Equipment Technology Southeastern Training Center and serves as the John Deere Agricultural Technology Southeastern Training Center. SGTC also has one of the oldest aviation maintenance training centers in the U.S. The college offers over 200 associate degree, diploma, and technical certificate of credit programs.
President Dr. John Watford, who was named as one of the most Influential Georgians for 2025 by Georgia Trend, pledged the college’s support to help bring about short-term training to facilitate training needs by KIHOMAC as part of their expansion.