Sunday, March 20, 2005
Machine-Shop-Online.com News: Machine Shop Education in CT
Summary:
When David Calabrese needs to hire an employee at his Naugatuck shop, he makes his first call to Mike Cooper.Cooper heads the Waterbury Adult Education Technical Training Center, a manufacturing training center that's found jobs for about 90 percent of its nearly 700 graduates.Calabrese is the current president of Manufacturing Alliance Service Corp. that oversees the center, but he's also president of Cole Screw Machine Inc., which turns out precision products for a host of industries.So far, Calabrese figures he's hired at least five employees from the program, which not only aims to give students basic manufacturing skills, but employment skills they'll need to keep their jobs."The program runs on the pretext that they're going to train people to be employees as well as give them job skills," Calabrese said."That's the advantage to me as an employer.It is an exciting time for the center's supporters, said Frank Johnson, executive director of the Waterbury-based Manufacturing Alliance of Connecticut, or MAC."I really can't stress how important it is to manufacturers to have a resource to ramp up very quickly and deliver what manufacturers need, which is trained employees," Johnson said.It's particularly crucial in Connecticut, where manufacturing accounts for a larger percentage of employment than the nation as a whole, and even more so in Greater Waterbury, where manufacturing directly accounts for about 16 percent of the jobs and indirectly for about one-third of all jobs.Now quartered in 17,000 square feet of space at 74 Mattatuck Heights, the center expects to move this summer into the renovated 22,000-square-foot Interstate Lane complex.Plans call for office, classroom and training space, plus a 40-seat video conference center available for training, "distance-learning" and other uses by area manufacturers, manufacturing groups and education-related organizations.Waterbury's Adult Education Department currently covers the center's $120,000 annual rent and funding for instructional salaries, while area manufacturers have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in monetary and in-kind donations of materials, equipment and time.Moving to the new building not only eliminates the rent payments, but allows those managing the center to stop thinking about finding a permanent home and focus on its core mission of training.Founded in 1996, the center offers classroom and hands-on training on the setup, operation and maintenance of precision manufacturing equipment such as screw machines and eyelet presses.It offers training for entry-level employees, current workers looking to upgrade skills and apprentice programs.It was the first school in the country credentialed in training standards set by the National Institute of Metalworking Skills, or NIMS, and also customizes training for an individual firms or groups of companies.Training on the 10-week entry-level program begins with classroom sessions covering blueprint reading and integrated math -- skills crucial in just about any manufacturing position -- then moves to hands-on training.That means first learning basic skills in the center's tool room, then moving onto the shop floor, for work on eyelet and screw machines, two of Greater Waterbury's core manufacturing technologies.Waterbury residents Jason Carter and Reggie Griffin graduated Friday from the program.
Businesshttp://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=18610
www.machine-shop-online.com
When David Calabrese needs to hire an employee at his Naugatuck shop, he makes his first call to Mike Cooper.Cooper heads the Waterbury Adult Education Technical Training Center, a manufacturing training center that's found jobs for about 90 percent of its nearly 700 graduates.Calabrese is the current president of Manufacturing Alliance Service Corp. that oversees the center, but he's also president of Cole Screw Machine Inc., which turns out precision products for a host of industries.So far, Calabrese figures he's hired at least five employees from the program, which not only aims to give students basic manufacturing skills, but employment skills they'll need to keep their jobs."The program runs on the pretext that they're going to train people to be employees as well as give them job skills," Calabrese said."That's the advantage to me as an employer.It is an exciting time for the center's supporters, said Frank Johnson, executive director of the Waterbury-based Manufacturing Alliance of Connecticut, or MAC."I really can't stress how important it is to manufacturers to have a resource to ramp up very quickly and deliver what manufacturers need, which is trained employees," Johnson said.It's particularly crucial in Connecticut, where manufacturing accounts for a larger percentage of employment than the nation as a whole, and even more so in Greater Waterbury, where manufacturing directly accounts for about 16 percent of the jobs and indirectly for about one-third of all jobs.Now quartered in 17,000 square feet of space at 74 Mattatuck Heights, the center expects to move this summer into the renovated 22,000-square-foot Interstate Lane complex.Plans call for office, classroom and training space, plus a 40-seat video conference center available for training, "distance-learning" and other uses by area manufacturers, manufacturing groups and education-related organizations.Waterbury's Adult Education Department currently covers the center's $120,000 annual rent and funding for instructional salaries, while area manufacturers have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in monetary and in-kind donations of materials, equipment and time.Moving to the new building not only eliminates the rent payments, but allows those managing the center to stop thinking about finding a permanent home and focus on its core mission of training.Founded in 1996, the center offers classroom and hands-on training on the setup, operation and maintenance of precision manufacturing equipment such as screw machines and eyelet presses.It offers training for entry-level employees, current workers looking to upgrade skills and apprentice programs.It was the first school in the country credentialed in training standards set by the National Institute of Metalworking Skills, or NIMS, and also customizes training for an individual firms or groups of companies.Training on the 10-week entry-level program begins with classroom sessions covering blueprint reading and integrated math -- skills crucial in just about any manufacturing position -- then moves to hands-on training.That means first learning basic skills in the center's tool room, then moving onto the shop floor, for work on eyelet and screw machines, two of Greater Waterbury's core manufacturing technologies.Waterbury residents Jason Carter and Reggie Griffin graduated Friday from the program.
Businesshttp://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=18610
www.machine-shop-online.com
# posted by Unknown @ 11:32 PM 
