The Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center

Technology educators generally agree that the workplace of today is very different places than the workplace of yesterday. There is also a general sense that if a community is to maintain a position of economic strength there must be fundamental changes in the workplace as well as in the educational programs which support them. These emerging high performance work environments increasingly demand technician level employees with sophisticated technical skills, team skills, and critical thinking skills. It is in response to this need that our team in the Eastern Iowa Community College District, in collaboration with 14 public and private sector partners, has created the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Center (AMTEC). To address these workplace changes our team's efforts involve a number of key areas to support regional workforce needs. We are collaborating with existing ATE manufacturing programs to develop and deliver an advanced manufacturing technology curriculum that is responsive to the needs of our regional industries. Our AMTEC has been developed to have the flexibility to meet the diverse scheduling and learning style needs of students. We are also establishing a seamless educational pathway for advanced manufacturing technology education. We are offering three Associate of Applied Science programs in Industrial Control Systems, Industrial Mechanical Maintenance, and First Line Supervisor Training.

Through professional development opportunities for community college and secondary school educators we are maintaining and strengthening the region's manufacturing technician programs. Our state-of-the-art training facility has been developed to support 340 students in a variety of advanced manufacturing areas. Our dissemination plans involves an annual Manufacturing Academy for high school students; a Technicians Speakers Bureau; job shadowing experiences; Manufacturing Careers program; Manufacturing Seminar for high school vocational instructors; and a Manufacturing Internship program.