Housatonic Expands Advanced Manufacturing Technology Program

VAILLANT DOMINGUE and HAYES MOORE (l-r)

Entering its fifth year, HCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Program has clearly satisfied a significant need in the Greater Bridgeport region for both students and employers. The program has posted a 100% employment success rate for graduating students in the past three years.

As word of the program and demand from employers has spread, so has demand from students, and this fall the program has reached its current capacity. Part-time evening classes will begin in January, 2017, enabling more students to enter the program.

The Center, located in HCC’s Lafayette Hall has grown with new, more advanced machinery added to the already impressive equipment that students learn on and increased lab space, enabling more students to enroll. The new machinery ensures that the Manufacturing Center has the most current equipment used in real work environments and that the students being trained will be skilled and in “ready-to-work” mode when they enter the work force. Upon completion of the program, students graduate with 34 college credits and a certificate in Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

Newly installed in the HCC Manufacturing Center are three HAAS MiniMills, a Samsung SL 15L lathe with a Fanuc control, a Trak 2op Prototrak TMX, four Trak DPM SX2 bed mills, a Sodick VZ 300L EDM, and upgrades to five Bridgeports which now have pneumatic draw bars and Prototrak SMX controls. Advanced measuring equipment includes two new fully programmable, automated Hexagon SF040504 CMMs, and three new Mitutoya Ph-A14 digital height gages. Additionally, two new 3-D printers from Advanced Copy Technologies have been installed.

The new Quality Assurance Lab will help to increase the skillsets of those graduating from the program, and a third semester certificate in Metrology will be added to the two-semester program in the near future. Also planned are third semester certificates in CNC Programming and Advanced Machining Techniques for Industry.

Upon completion of the Advanced Manufacturing program, students graduate with 34 college credits and a certificate in Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

Kathy Saint, president of Bridgeport’s Schwerdtle Technologies has been involved with the HCC Advanced Manufacturing Center since its inception and says, “We are very excited about the expanded space and purchase of new equipment which is in direct response to industry needs in our region of the state. We have hired three graduates since 2013 and they have all hit the ground running, allowing us to keep up with expanding production needs. HCC graduates continue to learn on the job and expand their skills in CNC machining and programming and it has been a win/win for all.”

HCC President Broadie says, “The Manufacturing program works for everyone; we are able to provide area manufacturers with the highly trained and qualified employees they need to be competitive and effective in today’s markets; and we train students in specific skills that are in demand, enabling them to engage in rewarding employment and contribute to the economic health of the region.”

For further information about the HCC Advanced Manufacturing program, contact Manufacturing Program Director Richard Dupont, at 203-332-5991 or rdupont@hcc.commnet.edu, or Kimberly Wood, Recruitment and Retention Coordinator at 203-332-5098 or kwood@hcc.commnet.edu.