One year ago, Ivy Tech Community College’s South Bend-Elkhart campus opened the Larry & Judy Garatoni Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Automation in
Goshen, Indiana.
Due to COVID-19, however, they were unable to host their grand opening celebration, but Wednesday night they finally did.
With 200 students in the program, Ivy Tech has already given out 157 credentials this year thanks to a new process used to determine qualifications.
“Even though we have these three separate degrees, they’re all tied into this credentialing system called Smart Automation Certification Alliance and it’s this new world of micro-credentials where you’re earning a credential that verifies that you have a certain competency, but you don’t require a full degree to get them, so now you’re getting a credential at the end of a single class,” said Juan Lopez, dean of the School of Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering and Applied Science.
Available degrees include industrial technology, which teaches Industry 2.0; advanced automation and robotics teaches Industry 3.0; and smart manufacturing and digital integration which ties 2.0 and 3.0 to create Industry 4.0
“One local example is, like, the Lippert beam processing plant,” Lopez added. “It’s a ‘lights out’ facility. Set it to run, let the humans leave, there’s one or two caretakers, and it can run on its own for the most part.”
Nick Pinchok, regional director for zSpace, a 3-D system for teaching and learning advanced manufacturing, explained the value of Industry 4.0 certification, which his company helps to facilitate.
Click here to read the whole story from Dani Messick in The Goshen News.
