GF Machining Solutions Collaborates on Community College’s Advanced Manufacturing Curriculum
The program uses GF’s Mikron HPM 450U five-axis machining center.
GF Machining Solutions (Lincolnshire, Illinois) and Community College of Denver (CCD) collaborated to add five-axis training to the college’s machine technologies program. This curriculum expansion represents efforts to reduce the estimated 2 million manufacturing jobs expected to go unfilled over the next decade.
CCD offers specialized training on a variety of machine technologies and opened a new Advanced Manufacturing Center in the fall of 2015. The 33,280-square-foot facility allows the college to increase enrollment in the machining technologies program. The training program offers three types of course offerings: introduction, operation and programming. It focuses on five-axis processes for aerospace, medical and plastic mold.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden recently toured the Advanced Manufacturing Center and met with students enrolled in the machining technologies program. He spoke about the importance of building a Colorado workforce with the right skills for jobs that pay well and provide a solid path to the middle class.
The college’s five-axis training program features GF’s Mikron HPM 450U, a machine for universal, automated production that can perform a variety of operations, from simple drilling to complex five-sided and simultaneous five-axis machining.
“We continue to look for ways to help manufacturers overcome their labor challenges,” says Gisbert Ledvon, director of business development for GF. “Partnering with Community College of Denver to develop this type of hands-on learning program is one of the best ways to mitigate the ‘brain drain’ that is occurring as baby boomers retire.”
