91视频

August 4, 2020

A skills gap has resulted in a growing demand nationwide for employees trained to work in today鈥檚 evolving field of advanced manufacturing, which utilizes robotics, automation and innovative technologies to streamline production processes, according to industry experts.

The Communiversity at 91视频 offers programs of study that will provide training needed to fill many of those jobs, but enrollment is not as high as it could be in some of the programs.

鈥淭here is a need both locally and nationally for machinists, mechatronics technicians and robotics engineer technicians, to name just a few positions,鈥� Executive Director of The Communiversity at EMCC and Workforce Development Dr. Courtney Taylor said. 鈥淭he challenge is convincing students and their parents to take a closer look at these emerging career paths while helping them to truly understand the options available.鈥�

The issue is not unique to EMCC or the Golden Triangle.

In an article in IndustryWeek titled, 鈥淗ow Manufacturers are Tackling the Skills Gap,鈥� Manufacturing Institute Executive Director Carolyn Lee states, 鈥淢anufacturing has a serious perception problem. Many young people just don鈥檛 know what is happening inside these plants 鈥� they don鈥檛 realize that it鈥檚 a high-tech industry with great career potential.鈥�

A lack of trained workers resulted in more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. remaining unfilled last year, according to the article.

A report by The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte states as many as 2.4 million manufacturing jobs may go unfilled between now and 2028 as demand rises and baby boomers retire.

Precision Manufacturing and Machining is among the programs at The Communiversity in which student enrollment has room for growth. The program is offered at The Communiversity as both a one-year certificate and as an Associate of Applied Science degree.

鈥淔or one thing, I think a lot of people don鈥檛 know what a machinist does,鈥� program instructor Ronnie Guy said. 鈥淓MCC is working to expand opportunities to learn about these occupations.鈥�

Machinists use lathes, boring mills, shapers, milling machines and presses, among other things, to manufacture parts used in industrial settings.

鈥淎t PACCAR, for example, machinists may be boring cylinders in the diesel engines they make for a certain number of days and then they may switch over and make pistons for a while,鈥� Guy said.

Most repetitive work is automated and is performed by computer numerical control, or CNC, machines. The machinist, or CNC operator, programs the software that runs the machines.

鈥淥nce it is programmed, you are basically standing there watching the machine to make sure everything goes right,鈥� Guy said. 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 physically demanding and this is something a person can do all the way through to retirement age.鈥�

Students in the program, who also learn how to operate the machines manually, will need an understanding of basic math and Guy said that makes some of them uncomfortable at first.

鈥淲e use calculators and we use formulas,鈥� Guy said. 鈥淎ll you have to do is take your information, insert it into a formula and it will work.鈥�

Guy said he has had some students go on to earn degrees in engineering. He has also had some former engineering students who were struggling with calculus that dropped out and enrolled in his program, 鈥渨here they did great.鈥�

Machinists are in demand in the automotive and aerospace industries, among others, and the need for machinists is growing in niche industries, some of which are changing lives, such as in the medical field, Guy said.

鈥淚f you go to a hospital to get a knee or hip replacement, machinists made those parts or they made the molds used to make those parts,鈥� Guy said. 鈥淚t is a really good field. I tell my students they will earn a comfortable living and can often have their pick of jobs.鈥�

Recent job openings in the field include those of machinist, millwright, CNC operator, machine assembler, machine operator and die maintenance technician.

Former Precision Manufacturing and Machining student Ryan Nicholson said in an interview last year he planned to attend MSU after finishing the program at The Communiversity.

鈥淚 feel like there are a lot of benefits to this program at EMCC,鈥� Nicholson said. 鈥淚f I choose not to become an engineer, this will provide me with a great career option and a backup plan.鈥�

Electro-Mechanical Department Chair Ben Harris teaches Mechatronics Technology and Systems Based Automation at The Communiversity.

Students enrolled in Mechatronics learn the same fundamentals as those in Industrial Maintenance, who typically find work troubleshooting and repairing equipment used in advanced manufacturing. While industrial maintenance technicians often perform maintenance on programmable logic controllers, fluid power systems and mechanical power transmission, students in Mechatronics learn those skills and receive additional training in robotics, process controls and programming, among other things.

鈥淢echatronics is geared toward troubleshooting, but at a higher level than that of an industrial maintenance technician, who is doing the nuts and bolts work,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淭he mechatronics technician is going out there with a laptop to try to figure out software issues or why a specific sensor doesn鈥檛 read at a specific time of day, or some sort of odd problem that usually involves the programs that are in those programmable logic controllers.鈥�

Students who graduate from Systems Based Automation are more focused on programming and less on troubleshooting and repair.

鈥淭hey are doing more development of the automation and deal primarily with process controls and programming the programmable logic controllers, which is the standard motion control platform used in manufacturing,鈥� Harris said.

Like Guy, Harris said he has additional room for students in his programs of study.

鈥淕raduates are in pretty high demand,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淭hey are usually hired as industrial maintenance technicians and have to prove themselves over three months, six months or a year before getting those high-level technical positions.鈥�

The starting pay for graduates of the Mechatronics and Systems Based Automation programs is typically between $45,000 and $50,000, Harris said.

鈥淎fter they get some experience, that could grow beyond $70,000 a year,鈥� Harris said.

Harris believes one reason more students are not seeking out the programs is that technically savvy students with good math schools 鈥渉ave been pushed all their lives towards engineering鈥� and a four-year degree.

鈥淎 lot of the students who go through engineering school find out the work is not really what they want to do,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the hands-on field they were told it was and they wind up sitting behind a computer. Our graduates like the variety of working on a computer sometimes to develop new control software and sometimes helping out on the shop floor to troubleshoot a problem.鈥�

Recent job openings in Systems Based Automation include electrical and instrumentation technician, process control technician and calibration technician, to name a few. Openings in Mechatronics include mechatronics technician, robotics engineer technician, PLC/robotics maintenance technician and automation technician, among others.

For more information about the Precision Manufacturing and Machining program, email Guy at rguy@eastms.edu. For information about the Mechatronics Technology or Systems Based Automation programs, email Harris at bharris@eastms.edu.

Other programs of study at The Communiversity include Engineering Drafting & Design; Electro-Mechanical Technology; Mechatronics Technology; and Industrial Maintenance Technology.

Fall 2020 classes at The Communiversity and EMCC campuses begin Aug. 17. For admission information, visit .