Grand Opening – Suffolk County Community College - Brentwood, New York
The need for advanced technical education is a popular subject these days, and it is one that must be addressed immediately.
In order to keep a competitive edge, manufacturing companies are upgrading their automation equipment to increase productivity and enable the production of high quality products. The automated equipment that is used today requires technicians with a new set of technical skills to operate and maintain them.
The US Department of Labor estimates that more than 10 million skilled factory jobs will be unfilled by the year 2020 – only 13 years from now! It is essential that high-tech, specialized training be made available to students and to the current workforce.
Suffolk County Community College, Brentwood, New York, in partnership with Festo Corporation recently unveiled the new Advanced Mechatronics Training Center. The new center unveiled advanced, high-tech manufacturing and process control equipment which reflects world-class training capabilities. The hope is to create greater awareness among students, school systems, industry leaders, workforce development agencies, economic development agencies and government officials about the variety of career paths that exist in the manufacturing field.
As part of this mission to provide affordable higher education and workforce development opportunities, SCCC applied for and received a three-year $2.4 million federal grant through the United States Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration to train workers for advanced manufacturing. This resulted in a new curriculum – Mechatronics – that will give the manufacturing workforce more highly developed skills increasing their employment opportunities and salary levels.
More than 200 workers from more than 38 manufacturing companies have enrolled in the college’s mechatronics certificate program since last spring. The college also plans to offer an associate degree program in the field next fall.
As a global manufacturer of high technology, factory automation systems, Festo Corporation is committed to working with other community colleges throughout the United States to establish training centers to keep up with the technology.
Festo is a leading global manufacturer of pneumatic and electromechanical systems, components and controls for industrial automation, with 56 national headquarters serving more than 180 countries. For more than 80 years, Festo has continuously elevated the state of manufacturing with innovations and optimized motion control solutions that deliver higher performing, more profitable automated manufacturing and processing equipment. Our dedication to the advancement of automation extends beyond technology to the education of current and future automation and robotics designers with simulation tools, teaching programs, and on-site services.
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