Gateway Technical College has streamlined its program that teaches students how to maintain and trouble-shoot automated manufacturing systems.
The new program isn't a response to Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics company that purportedly is looking to build a high-tech plant in the U.S.---maybe even here in southeast Wisconsin. But it would almost certainly help any manufacturer that relies heavily on automated systems such as robots.
Gateway teacher John Nelson says the length of the training—done in both Elkhorn and Kenosha—has been cut from two years to one. "We've rebuilt it from the ground up," Nelson says. "We've touched base with all of our industry partners and made sure that we're hitting exactly what they want and we cut out what they didn't need," he said.
Nelson says there’s already good pay and a strong demand for program graduates. The challenge, he says, is getting kids excited about manufacturing. "Parents hear that their kid wants to go into manufacturing and they push them into other areas," said Nelson, adding that some people still equate manufacturing with dusty, dark and dirty factory floors of years past.
Prime candidates for the program don’t need to be exceptional in math and science, according to Nelson. "This is for the person who wants to go out there and work with their hands and build and fix things," he said.
In addition to teaching students how to maintain manufacturing systems and robots, Gateway also offers engineering technology programs for students who have an interest in designing the machines.
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