A mobile lab that will help provide critical workforce training resources in rural areas of Aiken County has arrived at Aiken Technical College.
The three mobile labs were unveiled during an event in early February at the William H. “Billy” O’Dell Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence in Greenwood. It is a collaborative project joining Aiken Tech with Piedmont and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical Colleges. It is targeting needs across a 10-county area.
Funding for the labs, $4.9 million, came from the U.S Labor Department through its Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant program.
“Piedmont Technical College was the lead on a grant,” Dr. Steven Simmons, Dean of the School of Technical and Continuing Education, told ABD. “To strengthen that application, they partner with us and Orangeburg Technical College as a larger region of how we can create CE courses, or continuing education courses, that not only can be utilized by other colleges throughout the county, but also can be taught and students receive articulation into an academic coursework, so being able to get Credit for the CE classes that you take.”
Rob Collins, Department Chair of Engineering and Industrial Maintenance, said the goal is to be able to reach students in the more rural areas of the county, like Wagener-Salley and Ridge Spring-Monetta.
“I think what we’re looking at possibly is the ability for them to get a certificate, a production operator certificate (with the lab),” he said. “But maybe that can motivate them to the point where they can actually get to our campus and see what we do, and maybe get an associate’s degree, and then ratchet up their experience and their ability to get a better and better job.”
The lab is equipped with simulation software and industry-grade equipment to provide firsthand advanced manufacturing education and skills development. The climate-controlled lab can be operated as a plug-in to an electrical source or operated independently by a generator. The flexibility makes it ideally suited to operate in any rural area.
“This project demonstrates the power of partnerships across education, industry, and community stakeholders to address workforce gaps and uplift our rural communities,” said Piedmont Technical College President Dr. Hope E. Rivers in a news release when the labs were unveiled.
While students educated in the lab will have a certificate that opens the door to employment or sets them up for an associate’s degree from a technical college, it can also give them a leg up on a four-year degree. Later this year, USC Aiken will be opening what can be the next step for those students. The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative is set to be in operation later this summer on the USCA campus.
Simmons said this is one of the benefits for students in Aiken County, where the school system, Aiken Tech, and USCA partner on workforce development.
“This is another way in which a student can leave high school, or even before high school, earn a production operator certificate, go to work in a manufacturing facility, come to Aiken Tech to earn their associates in technical management or industrial maintenance, and then go and earn a degree at one of the four year institutions like USC Aiken,” he explained.
Collins said the lab can accommodate 12 to 16 students. Students interested in this career field should have a solid understanding of mathematics.
“Granted, when you’re in industrial maintenance out in the world, you might not do a whole lot of it, but when we work with these trainers, there’s always a mathematic background as to why they do what they do,” he said “They have to understand so many volts is so many amps is so many currents, and that’s what makes the motor go. What’s the difference between 120 volts and 240 volts? And why do we have one versus the other?”
Simmons said, in addition to students, they are looking into the possibility of offering training classes for adults in the lab.
Learn more about the lab and other training programs at www.atc.edu/manufacturing
