November 2008 Edition

CAM

Prepping the Next Generation of Metalworkers

A community in rural Idaho took a look at what was needed to prepare its students for jobs in the metalworking industry and implemented an education system to ready them to work in any first-class shop in the country

While much has been made about the move of the U.S. to a service economy, manufacturing is still the driving force behind our economic development. We won’t get rich by selling hamburgers to each other; someone has to make something worth buying by adding value to it in order for all of us to prosper.

Behind our manufacturing muscle lies a constant influx of people into jobs in the manufacturing sector. As the metalworking field advances, it becomes more computerized. Filling the need for educated employees in advanced use of computers in shops is critical. A technical training center in Idaho is meeting the educational challenge and providing sharp students to fill the next generation of manufacturing employees.

A progressive and vibrant economy depends upon the capability of its citizens to use technology, ingenuity, and efficiency to minimize cost and maximize productivity to ensure a competitive position in the global economy. The success of citizens in the contemporary marketplace is largely attributable to the quality and extent of education.

Students are an educational system’s product. The quality of that product is measured by how well the students are prepared to contribute and thrive in the world. Using that measure, the Cassia Regional Technical Center – CRTC – in Burley, ID, is having a substantial amount of success.

One student from the Automated Manufacturing Program was awarded an undergraduate internship at Boeing and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in mechanical engineering at MIT.

Another is completing his sophomore year as an engineering student at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

A third student has a job at an after-market manufacturing company in Boise. On the weekends, he races motorcycles equipped with parts of his design that are manufactured by the company for whom he works.

All of these successes can be credited to the school and the tools that it uses to teach.

Building a Technical School

Many communities have good technical education programs. However, the Cassia County school district had to overcome more obstacles than most to achieve its successes. The school district covers 2,500 square miles, making it larger than the states of Rhode Island or Delaware, and has a K through12 enrollment of only 5,000. The largest city in the district has a population of 9,000. For years area residents had heard that the kind of contemporary educational programs that thrive in more urban settings wouldn’t work in their community. The programs at the CRTC proved the naysayers wrong.

In the early ’90s, the Cassia school district experienced growing pains. It formed a long-range planning committee to address its growth issues. The committee recommended construction of three new high schools and a technical education facility to meet student needs. It determined that none of the district’s four high schools would be large enough to provide a broad array of high-end career and technical education programs in a cost-effective manner.

Giving the technical education program its own building was the most efficient approach to providing student opportunities in the capital-intensive programs involved with a hands-on technical education. Building the schools and the central CRTC had a large impact on students in these communities because they would have to travel only 40 or 50 miles to get access to the latest in technology and equipment.

The Cassia school district was the first in Idaho to develop a single-site regional technical education center. Initially, it served the four high schools in the Cassia district. Later, a number of students from neighboring school districts, including some in "nearby" Nevada and Utah, began taking advantage of its programs.

The CRTC opened with six programs: electronics technology, residential construction technology, automotive service technology, health professions, computer-aided design and drafting, and automated manufacturing technology. The programs were chosen to meet student and industry needs with the intention that these programs would integrate with one another.

The Ties that Bind

As school, community, and post-secondary officials explored programs for the regional center, several secondary and post-secondary sites were visited to learn more about automated manufacturing processes. It was clear that a powerful CAD/CAM/CNC software package must be at the core of an automated manufacturing program. At an educational convention there was opportunity to make side-by-side comparisons. There were a number of programs that interested the group, including Mastercam from CNC Software, Tolland, CT.

Several teachers attended an in-service for Mastercam at Idaho State University. All three attendees recognized CAM software would be a common thread throughout many of the programs at the center and it was important that each person be comfortable with the final software choice. When choosing software, it would be important, as a rural school, to select a company that could be relied upon to provide customer support. After attending the in-service and meeting with the Mastercam representative, the system chose Mastercam.

As other instructors became involved in training and developing individual curricula, they appreciated the growth potential the application offered. Mastercam tied many of the programs together as well as attracting some of the best and brightest students into CRTC’s programs.

Learning Real-world Applications

Computer-aided manufacturing is the foundation of much of the work in shops and contract manufacturers. It is a factor supporting electronic manufacturing and residential construction.

In automated manufacturing education, students use CAM software for operating bench-top and full-scale CNC mills, lathes, engraving systems, and a plasma cutter. Students use their manufacturing skills to create projects that contribute to the learning experiences of students in other programs and contribute services to the greater community and local businesses.

Students use CAD/CAM software to design and then manufacture their own basic printed circuit boards using CNC milling equipment. They use Mastercam in conjunction with the CNC router for design and manufacturing.

Two-D and 3D models students create in AutoCAD are imported into Mastercam and are manufactured with an assortment of CNC equipment. This type of exercise helps students understand how manufacturing integration works.

When automotive students need a unique part, say for a classic car no longer manufactured, mounting brackets for a unique engine installation, or a special tool for installing or removing a stubborn part, they design their own and manufacture it with assistance from the automated manufacturing students.

Students create their designs and machining toolpaths in Mastercam and then cut them on one of the CNC machines. In these programs, schoolwork isn’t theoretical, it takes place in a real environment. Teaching technology to students who live in rural areas is an important achievement.

Win-win Situation

The CRTC provides a win-win situation for students living in a rural area. They receive an education in an area where such technology is often lacking as well as getting the cutting-edge skills needed for a well-paying career, both while enjoying typical high school activities.

The Internet and distance learning systems further enhance their experiences. Cassia students have the advantage of access to Mastercam online tutorials, learning the basics before they ever see a CNC mill or a lathe.

For the Cassia school district there were a lot of pieces to the puzzle of providing a 21st Century professional technical education to students from a sparsely populated community, including a school system looking toward the future, integrative software technologies, the Internet, a generous foundation award for equipment and training, careful administrative and faculty planning, and creative scheduling. Education and community leaders found a way to combine the factors so students formerly at a disadvantage because they came from a rural area now have access to technologies that mean they can step into high-tech metalworking shops anywhere in the country. CNC Software

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