As part of their dedicated efforts to provide the manufacturing workforce needed for Connecticut’s economic future, Goodwin College is bringing advanced manufacturing training on the road!
Having already travelled to dozens of middle and high schools around the state, Goodwin’s Advanced Manufacturing Mobile Training Lab brings multiple levels of manufacturing education to eager students throughout the state.
“Young people are often surprised when it is explained to them that almost everything around them is manufactured in some way,” Dr. Al Pucino, Goodwin’s Director of Incumbent Worker Training said.Now Goodwin is working to show the next generation of Connecticut’s makers that manufacturing is no longer dark, dirty, and dangerous by bringing manufacturing on the road.
Students are able to get hands on with real manufacturing equipment, seeing exactly how they can take an idea from concept to design; from design to computer program; and from the program they write directly into the real world.
The 44-foot trailer has its own generator, smartboard, Wi-Fi, and room enough to hold Goodwin’s advanced manufacturing equipment that students would see in manufacturing floors throughout the state. Students can watch presentations on the lab’s external 50-inch television, or work on machines inside all at their schools.
“Very often, we instruct inside our mobile lab on location at a manufacturing company’s facility,” Pucino said. “Though when requested, we’ll go into the company building to provide training.”
That’s where Goodwin’s manufacturing training programs come in. Along with reaching out to middle and high school students, the lab is used as part of Goodwin’s extensive incumbent worker training program. With an impressive roster that includes many one-day, four-hour workshops, employees complete the workshops with usable manufacturing skills, ready to apply them in their workplace. Goodwin can accommodate up to 12 employees in each workshop session.
From training the current workforce to exciting the makers of the future, Goodwin College’s Advanced Manufacturing Mobile Training Lab brings the world of manufacturing directly to those who benefit most.
Goodwin University is a nonprofit institution of higher education and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), formerly known as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Goodwin University was founded in 1999, with the goal of serving a diverse student population with career-focused degree programs that lead to strong employment outcomes.