C-TEC Awarded Automation and Robotics Grant to Develop Program Model for Licking County and Central Ohio Adult Workforce Training

The Central Ohio Manufacturing Partnership (COMP) recently awarded the Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County’s (C-TEC) Adult Education Center the federal Industry Sector Partnership Grant. This grant allows C-TEC to lead Central Ohio in developing an entry-level automation and robotics adult training program.

The goal of the grant is to develop entry-level curriculum in manufacturing automation and robotics that will supply a steady pipeline of automation technician workers. The shortterm certification program will be less than one year. C-TEC will develop the model, in partnership with Licking County and Central Ohio manufacturers, then train the first class of students who will be awarded full scholarships as part of the initiative. From there, C-TEC will assist other Ohio Technical Centers in surrounding counties to implement similar programming.

C-TEC was selected because of its competitive advantage in equipment, technical expertise, and community partnerships. Experience in industry training models specific to manufacturing helped make C-TEC a natural choice to activate this initiative. In October 2020, with the help of local manufacturers, C-TEC launched its new Advanced CNC Machining and Robotics Integration program that includes a new 120-hour Robotics and Automation course with national industry certification in Fanuc Handling Pro.

“We’re excited to keep building on our work in automation and robotics so that C-TEC can continue to respond to workforce challenges,” said Lauren Massie, C-TEC’s adult education director.

Shawn Hendrix, president of the Central Ohio Manufacturing Partnership (COMP) and president of Nissen Chemitec America, Inc., said, “Manufacturing is the largest economic sector in Ohio, and the investment in automation by manufacturers is vitally important to remain globally competitive, and absolutely necessary to sustain manufacturing in our state.

“The Central Ohio Manufacturing Partnership awarded this grant to C-TEC to develop an entry-level automation program with full confidence that they will deliver an outstanding program based on the resources that they currently have in their facility along with an experienced and committed staff,” Hendrix added. “This program will be a model that we intend to eventually deploy to the other Ohio Technical Centers.”

The Central Ohio Manufacturing Partnership (COMP) is a manufacturing-led industry sector partnership created to solve the workforce training, retention, and recruitment challenges of its participating membership, which includes many Central Ohio-based manufacturers. The COMP membership includes manufacturing and educational firms in Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Knox, Licking, Logan, Madison, Marion, Morrow, Pickaway, and Union counties.

The new automation program is scheduled to launch in June 2022. For more information on the new Advanced CNC Machining and Robotics Integration program, go to https://c-tec.edu/ae/ programs/machining.