College offering advanced manufacturing class
Thanks to a new lab filled with top-level equipment, Yuba College is grinding out students with advanced manufacturing skills.
A state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing area and new instructor saw the first wave of students learn and use the equipment for the spring semester.
“We just got the keys to the building in December and had our first two classes with about 10 students,” said welding professor Dan Turner. “Advanced manufacturing is one of three sectors prime for growth and expansion in the North State, and no other college in the North State has this equipment, so we decided to take the lead.”
CNC machining is a process used in manufacturing that involves the use of computers to control machine tools such as lathes, mills, routers and grinders. Turner said the ballpark cost of the six spindles (two vertical machine centers and four computer numerical control, or CNC, machines) and accompanying computers and software, is about $750,000.
“One thing that’s awesome is that we found Joe Bauer; he’s a product of Yuba City High School and fell in love with manufacturing in Chico, and we’re fortunate to bring him into the program,” Turner said.
Bauer, a 2010 Yuba City graduate and a recent Chico State graduate, is instructing the advanced manufacturing classes at the college.
“California is the lead state for manufacturing and has the highest density of manufacturing companies, so there’s a lot of need for skilled people,” Bauer said. “The program provides the opportunity for students who may not be entering into higher education a gate- way for a good paying job and it opens up a whole new avenue,”
Bauer has already instructed people who are working in the manufacturing sector – locally and regionally.
“I’ve had several people from Baked Industries, Caltrans, Kingsbury, state of California, city of Sacramento, SWECO and from the water districts,” Bauer said. “They have people on staff but they need people with the training that we can provide.”
Bauer said the possibilities are virtually limitless as far as what can be created using the new equipment and 3-D modeling software.
“If you can think about it in your brain, we can likely build it as long as it fits into the machine,” Bauer said. “You go from something in your head to something in your hand.”
Turner said funding for the equipment came from a variety of sources and help from Eric Pomeroy, with the Sutter County Office of Education.
“We had great support from President GH Javaheripour and Daren Otten, the dean of Applied Academics,” Turner said.
He said people from the district and campus level maintenance team and the information technology staff were also instrumental in the creation of the advanced manufacturing lab.
“It’s taken a village to make this happen.” Turner said.
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