LCCC announces new applied bachelor’s degree

Lorain County Community College will offer a second applied bachelor’s degree in smart industrial automated systems engineering technology.

Speaking at the kickoff Oct. 7 for Lorain County Manufacturing Month at Skylift Inc. in Lorain, LCCC President Marcia J. Ballinger announced the college would offer the first degree program of its kind in Ohio, building on its commitment to create and train the workforce needed for the 21st century economy.

“We are the first college … to offer this applied bachelor’s degree,” Ballinger said. “It is the only degree of its kind in the entire state of Ohio, bar none.”

The new degree program has received the green light from Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor Randy Gardner to move forward with development. It focuses on integrating, operating, modifying and troubleshooting smart manufacturing systems based on “off the shelf” industrial equipment directly related to smart manufacturing.

The next step in the approval process is to gain final approval from the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission, following the steps taken when LCCC launched its bachelor’s program in microelectronic manufacturing in 2018.

U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur spoke at the event and said LCCC was an asset to Northeast Ohio, praising the college for its innovation in supporting manufacturing and other sectors.

“The course offerings, what you are doing at Lorain County Community College, I wish I had in my hometown,” said the Toledo Democrat. “I’ve had three generations of people now who have not been advantaged by having a decent community college in the city of Toledo.

“I can’t tell you how much that harms us. It’s actually frightening to think about.”

Kaptur criticized the state, calling for more educational opportunities modeling what LCCC has been able to accomplish.

“And it’s a great abdication by the state of Ohio, of its responsibility to education in all places,” she said. “It’s something I fight for every day, but I’m a federal official, not a state official, and I can’t make certain things happen, but I know when it isn’t there.”

Like the MEMS program, this curriculum was developed in consultation with local employers with the “learn and earn model” enabling students to work and take classes, completing their training with handson experience in the industry.

“The curriculum has been designed with the employers at the table,” Ballinger said. “And so it’s not Lorain County Community College designing the degree, it is co-designed by manufacturers throughout Northeast Ohio.”

In an accompanying news release, Ballinger thanked Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, Lorain County Manufacturing Sector Partnership and Team NEO for their collaboration and partnership in making the degree possible.

Smart industrial automated systems engineering technology represents a multidisciplinary engineering field concerned with the design, modeling, analysis and control of predominantly computer-based automated systems or processes, often referred to as smart manufacturing, the release said.

Automated systems typically contain a mixture of sensors, equipment, devices, software, hardware and humans, and require knowledge of elements of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, software programming, networking, security and human factors engineering.

The program will be designed to meet the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology requirements and train students for job roles such as automation engineer, controls engineer, systems engineer and more.

Those positions, which cut across multiple industry sectors, are in high demand now with anticipated growth in the coming years, the release said.

According to recent statistics in the release, in 2020, over 21,000 individuals were employed in Northeast Ohio in similar positions and 72 percent of occupations related to smart manufacturing and automation require a bachelor’s degree as typical entry level education.

Labor market data company Emsi forecasts 8,750 regional openings in these occupations in the next five years.

Competitiveness

As industrial automation continues to play a key role in regional companies’ abilities to remain productive and competitive in an increasingly global economy, many local businesses are anticipating hiring both students and graduates of LCCC’s Smart Industrial Automated Systems Engineering Technology program.

“As we strive to maintain our competitiveness, we understand that robotics technicians, specialists and integrators can help AgriNomix LLC accomplish its goals,” said Joseph Smith, vice president of manufacturing for the Oberlin company that supplies equipment to the North American horticulture industry. “With quality training courses focused on equipment operation, engineering and design issues associated with a dynamic manufacturing environment, LCCC can help address an unmet need in the advanced manufacturing workforce pipeline.”

AgriNomix, which has hired several graduates from LCCC’s associate degree program, focused on automation and robotics in the last few years, collaborated with the college to develop the Smart Industrial Automation associate and bachelor’s degree programs, the release noted.

The company also worked with LCCC to develop its MEMS programs, which boasts 100 percent job placement among graduates.

The programs’ success is partly due to its earn and learn model that embeds work-based learning at local companies and will also be integrated into the Smart Industrial Automated Systems Engineering Technology program.

Sarah Park knows how valuable early exposure to the industry can be.

Park is one of three LCCC students working at AgriNomix as a part-time electrical technician.

She has been there since September 2019.

“Starting a job with a local company while working on a degree, helps students smoothly transfer into the workforce right after graduation with relevant work experience,” Park said.

Park assists in wiring, testing and troubleshooting automated greenhouse equipment before it’s sent to the company’s customers.

She earned her associate of applied science in automated manufacturing technology — maintenance/repair from LCCC.

She’s pursuing her bachelor of applied science in automated manufacturing engineering technology at the University of Akron through LCCC’s University Partnership program.

After graduation, Park will transition to a full-time field service technician, installing equipment at customer sites across the country.