• Upcoming CNC training center meets urgent demand, would double enrollment

    A New York community college's upcoming CNC manufacturing training center will meet an urgent workforce demand for skilled labor.

    Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) is building a $14.5-million, 37,000-sq.-ft. advanced manufacturing center on its campus to train CNC machinists, toolmakers, CNC programmers, and industrial maintenance personnel. The Gene F. Haas Center for Advanced Manufacturing Skills (CAMS) is expected to be completed this May and open in September.

    The new facility will allow the college to double enrollment in its advanced manufacturing technology program—from 144 to 288 students—to meet an urgent workforce demand for skilled labor, says HVCC. It is the only community college training program of its kind within 125 miles and has a 100-percent job placement rate for graduates.

    A new certificate program in operations management technology is in development to address the need for workers in first-line supervision, technical marketing and sales, technical procurement, production control and quality assurance within the industry. The center also will allow Hudson Valley to provide the next level of training for technology teachers by offering a “Train the Trainer” program designed especially for secondary and college STEAM educators.

    CAMS provides a unique approach to workforce training, brought about by the collaboration of educators, local, state, and federal governments, manufacturers and private sector investors in order to address critical skilled labor shortages in the manufacturing industry. Already, 15 well-known and respected OEMs are participating in this project.

    The building’s design provides corporate partners with access to offices and conference space adjacent to faculty offices, student classrooms, and labs. Facilities will be available for corporate demonstration purposes, shared training activities, meetings and events that connect the college and its students to workforce partners.

    When completed, the Gene F. Haas Center for Advanced Manufacturing Skills will provide:

    - 10,000 sq. ft. of machine labs;
    - 13 Haas CNC machines—12 different machine models;
    - Wire EDM, industrial 3D printing, CMM, CNC laser engraving, CAD/CAM, fully equipped industrial maintenance lab, CNC tool setting, and a variety of manufacturing software and special tooling;
    - 25 all-new base skills mill, lathe, and grinding manual machine tools;
    - 1,900-sq.-ft. additive manufacturing lab;
    - 1,600-sq.-ft. metrology lab;
    - 2,100-sq.-ft. industrial maintenance lab;
    - 108 CAD/CAM computer workstations; and
    - Five labs uniquely designed to double as regular classrooms, creating eight classrooms to be used as needed.