{"id":951,"date":"2020-02-26T09:47:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T17:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/?p=951"},"modified":"2020-02-26T09:47:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T17:47:00","slug":"prairie-state-college-starts-innovative-mobile-training-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/training\/prairie-state-college-starts-innovative-mobile-training-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Prairie State College Starts Innovative Mobile Training Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the Made in America trade <a href=\"https:\/\/www.madeinamerica.com\/\">show<\/a> last\nOctober, I stopped by the booth of Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, IL\nand met Craig Schmidt. V. P. of Community and Economic Development and Jim Kvedaras,\nConsultant. They were at the show to publicize the launch of their new Mobile Training Center (<a href=\"https:\/\/prairiestate.edu\/MTC\">MTC)<\/a> program that will provide\ninnovative ways to train and retain workers and minimize workplace interruptions.\nCraig told me, \u201cWe recently received an Economic Development Administration\n(EDA) grant to create the MTC.&nbsp; We used that\ngrant and matching college funds to build two mobile training centers that can\nbe moved at will to bring hands-on training to a company site.\u201d<br>\n<br>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last\nweek, I checked back with Craig and Jim to see how the program was going.&nbsp; He said they have been identifying\nmanufacturers that would benefit from the program and will start the program at\nFord Motor Company\u2019s Stamping plant the week of March 16.&nbsp; They have additional companies lined up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He\nexplained, \u201cBy using the MTCs, employers save the time and expense of sending\nemployees off site to locations for industrial skills training, and workers\nwill not be inconvenienced by having to commute to a community college campus\nor other location for training. We\u2019ve been offering training in manufacturing\nskills about 41 of the 60 years since the College opened in 1958. Today, manufacturers need new ways to address the\nskills gap and retain their workers to be competitive in the global economy. Mobile\ntraining can provide some of those ways, and our local manufacturers wanted the\ntraining to be brought to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re\nthe first in the area to have these,\u201d he said. \u201cLarger companies that operate\nthree shifts around the clock will be able to provide equal and training\nopportunities to employees.&nbsp; It\u2019s all\nfocused on advanced manufacturing. The top priority is to upskill current\nemployees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He\nexplained, \u201cThe MTCs are two 53 ft. highway truck trailers that are temperature\ncontrolled, Wi-Fi enabled, and handicap accessible.&nbsp; The MTCs can come on demand, so that training\ndoesn\u2019t have to be confined to whatever facilities an employer can make\navailable without shutting down production lines. The MTCs can be moved to\nother plant locations, providing training opportunities for more employees, and\nthen moved to other employers.&nbsp; Employers\ncan work with the college to design a training curriculum based on their goals,\nwhile minimizing production downtime while the training takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Craig\nprovided me with a brochure that explained that one trailer is a welding unit and\nthe other is a manufacturing unit.&nbsp; The\nwelding trailer is \u201cequipped with eight multiprocess welding stations and two\nvirtual reality\/augmented Arc welding simulation.\u201d Students will learn \u201cwelding\nsetup, operation, and troubleshooting using Miller multiprocess welders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nmanufacturing unit is described as being equipped with the following equipment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cEmco\nmachines<\/li><li>Haas\nsimulators,<\/li><li>Manual\nmill\/lathe Combo machining centers<\/li><li>ABB Robotic\noperations for operation and troubleshooting<\/li><li>3D printing\ncapabilities\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nstudents will learn \u201cPLC and electronics operation and troubleshooting using Siemens\nand Allen Bradley components\u201d and be trained on \u201call CNC industry controls that\nare common to the market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nbrochure states that MTCs offer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cOn-site,\nhands-on training using current technology<\/li><li>Customizable\ncurriculum, including classroom instruction and practical application<\/li><li>Training that\ncan be applied toward a college degree or as professional development<\/li><li>Lab exercises\ndesigned to enhance employee competence and performance\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nbenefits to employers are described as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cMinimize\nloss of production time and travel expenses<\/li><li>Increase\nengagement, efficiency, and retention<\/li><li>Maintain a\ncompetitive edge<\/li><li>Increase\nsafety performance by uniform adherence to industry standards<\/li><li>Reduce the\nmanufacturing skills gap\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Craig\nsaid, \u201cWe are also seeking company sponsorships to assist in offsetting the\nCollege\u2019s match of the grant.&nbsp; The\nCollege intends to put a portion of the sponsorship back into the community to\npromote manufacturing jobs to youth and train individuals who may not have easy\naccess to education.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\nthanked Craig and Jim for the information and said that I hoped to see them at\nthis year\u2019s Made in America trade show in Detroit.&nbsp; To learn more about the Prairie State College\nMobile Training Center program, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/prairiestate.edu\/MTC\">https:\/\/prairiestate.edu\/MTC<\/a>, call (708) 709-7722, or email mtc@prairiestate.edu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I browsed the College website, I learned that it also has a\nDepartment of Corporate and Continuing Education, which offers customized\nprograms that are delivered either to company facilities or on their campus. Besides\nthe typical business topics of business ethics, business writing, customer service,\nSecrets of Selling, and time management, the College also offers training in\ncomputer software and employee development topics.&nbsp; The latter includes such topics as coaching\nand mentoring, leadership, and team building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was particularly pleased that the College offers training in Lean\non such subjects as 5S Workplace Organization, Continuous Improvement, Six\nSigma, and Total Productive Maintenance because becoming a Lean enterprise is\nkey to being competitive in the global marketplace.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All\nacross the country, Community Colleges are taking the lead in providing\neducation and training in the skills needed by today\u2019s manufacturers.&nbsp; What is still needed is more high schools\nrestoring hands-on skills training at the high school level.&nbsp; Let\u2019s restore the \u201cshop classes,\u201d such as\nwood shop and machine shop and start mentoring middle school age children on\nthe importance of choosing STEM careers. STEM careers include manufacturing\nbecause nearly all manufacturing today is based on advanced technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the Made in America trade show last October, I stopped by the booth of Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, IL and met Craig Schmidt. V. P. of Community and Economic Development and Jim Kvedaras, Consultant. They were at the show to publicize the launch of their new Mobile Training Center (MTC) program that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,37,180],"tags":[240,38,181],"class_list":["post-951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-training","category-workforce-development","tag-manufacturing-skills","tag-training-2","tag-workforce-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions\/952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}