Education  August 1, 2019

FRCC’s new manufacturing center opens in Longmont

LONGMONT — When Front Range Community College students start classes in a couple of weeks, some will be doing so in a brand-new facility at 1351 S. Sunset St. in Longmont.

That’s the address of FRCC’s new Center for Integrated Manufacturing, a 27,000-square-foot facility with classrooms and laboratory spaces to give students hands-on experience in a variety of types of manufacturing disciplines.

The aim of the center, which is supported by Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) and other corporate partners, is to better prepare students for jobs in advanced manufacturing industries, which have long struggled to attract enough talent to fill all available jobs. 

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Front Range Community College’s new Center for Integrated Manufacturing is home to FRCC’s existing precision machining technology program, the optics technology program, and two new programs: automation technology and electronics technology. Lucas High/BizWest.

It will be home to FRCC’s existing precision machining technology program, the optics technology program, and two new programs: automation technology and electronics technology. Classes start Aug. 19.

Front Range Community College leaders and industry representatives gathered at the center Thursday to celebrate the grand opening.

“Manufacturing is about making things that are real and tangible,” said Paul Kelly, CEO of Boulder-based precision optical assembly maker Research Electro-Optics Inc. “This facility — five years in the making — is now real and it is tangible.”

REO is a partner with FRCC on the college’s optics program. 

“Manufacturing is a big deal, and people forget about that,” FRCC president Andrew Dorsey said. “People think that manufacturing has gone away. But manufacturing is the heart of our export economy.”

“Part of our role as a community college is not just to meet the workforce needs of the state, but to help individuals make a living wage in a career where they can support a family and have meaningful work,” Dorsey said.

Jobs in the sector and plentiful and the pay is competitive, so it’s critical that higher education institutions such as FRCC work with employers to make sure students have the right skills when they graduate, he said. 

“We’re really excited for the Center for Integrated Manufacturing,” Longmont Economic Development Partnership director of strategy and collaboration Morgan Smith said. “One of our top priorities in our new economic development strategies is an explicit focus on talent. That includes designing new career pathways to meet future demands as well as building industry-relevant talent pipelines that respond to our current demands.”

LONGMONT — When Front Range Community College students start classes in a couple of weeks, some will be doing so in a brand-new facility at 1351 S. Sunset St. in Longmont.

That’s the address of FRCC’s new Center for Integrated Manufacturing, a 27,000-square-foot facility with classrooms and laboratory spaces to give students hands-on experience in a variety of types of manufacturing disciplines.

The aim of the center, which is supported by Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) and other corporate partners, is to better prepare students for…

Lucas High
A Maryland native, Lucas has worked at news agencies from Wyoming to South Carolina before putting roots down in Colorado.
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