Connecticut leaders unveiled a multimillion-dollar technology training center at CT State Tunxis on Wednesday as part of the state’s effort to develop a workforce to meet an evolving manufacturing industry.
The ceremony marking the opening of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center in Farmington comes more than a year after Connecticut State Community College leaders acknowledged their concerns about the system’s ability to fund programming within the 44,000-square-foot facility, which cost the state $8.4 million to renovate and now includes a machine technology lab and several offices and classrooms.
But although the center is now open, questions remained Wednesday about how long it would be able to operate and whether it would be able to produce the workforce needed to meet state manufacturers’ needs.
The technology center will offer both for-credit and non-credit classes. The first non-credit course has already been taught, providing employers a chance to train their employees in specific skills. In August, the center will welcome its first cohort of 16 students to study machine technology for credit.
“What we’re doing here in the state of Connecticut is we are building a talent pipeline that is going to serve the needs of industry for generations to come,” state Chief Manufacturing Officer Paul Lavoie said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Manufacturing makes up a significant part of Connecticut’s economy. And the state is a national, even global, leader in the industry, said Gov. Ned Lamont.
“When it comes to the type of equipment we make, and the equipment you have to work on to make this type of equipment, you want to do it right here in Connecticut,” Lamont said.
Lamont said he thinks the new Tunxis facility will add even more value to the state’s industry. “You want to go see the manufacturing technology center right here in Tunxis. You want to see that our folks are training on the most sophisticated equipment there is,” he said.
But as technology progresses rapidly in the industry and across the board, many manufacturing professionals are worried about their workforce keeping up. Tunxis Community College leaders hope the new technology center will keep Connecticut’s young professionals on the cutting edge.
“This is a competitive advantage,” said Marty Guay, chairman of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Board of Regents. “We’re going to bring people into the state, into these programs to thrive. But it’s really with their heads that we’re going to compete.”
But some individuals in the manufacturing industry said they are dissatisfied with the state’s efforts to channel young people into the industry. Mark Burzynski, a recruiting and talent development advisor with Bristol-based manufacturer The Arthur G. Russell Co., said the new Tunxis facility is not as impressive as it may seem.
“The equipment is not state-of-the-art, if you’ve been led to believe that,” Burzynski said. “I’m sure that it’ll turn out some machinists, but there’s a whole other level of technical talent needed.”
His company is one of several manufacturers — including Otis Elevators and Stanley Access Technologies — that are not far from the new Tunxis facility. He said they’re all “looking for another level of talent” that this technology center is not advanced enough to provide.
Burzynski was part of a manufacturing education working group that published its recommendations for expanding Connecticut workforce development. The recommendations include creating a community robotics space, offering dual credit programs between community colleges and high schools and creating a mechatronics program, which involves mechanics, electronics and computing. None of these recommendations have been implemented.
“We’re not giving up,” Burzynski said. “At least they got the doors open and the facility is usable.”
Jordan Domkowski, director of the new technology center, said that it will be increasing its program offerings in the future. “We just don’t have the space right now,” he said. “That’s the goal, is to expand out, and again, add more programs as we go.”
The lofty goals of the technology center have also attracted skepticism, especially after the delay in opening the building due to the lack of funding to staff and operate it, which will cost $550,000 annually.
“Unless there are monies appropriated by the legislature,” former CT State associate dean Rich Dupont said, “the question will be how they continue to operate.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
