July 28, 2010

Adding a full-time instructor and a host of new classes was just what the Allan Hancock College machine technology program needed to rise to the next level, with enrollment increasing by 400 percent in just under a year. The high level of interest hasn’t come as a surprise to machine technology instructor Robert Mabry.

“There is a significant manufacturing industry on the Central Coast, and there was a real need for someone to provide a trained workforce for these employers and that’s what we’re doing,” Mabry said. (Photo: from left, student Estaban Sanchez and Mabry.)

Since Mabry was hired in August 2009, the machine technology program at Hancock has increased from two classes with a total of 36 students to nine classes and 158 students. The college also offers a certificate and an associate degree in machine technology.

“I think Allan Hancock College has the ability to become the recruiting ground that we so desperately need in this area,” said Tom Fargher, with C&D Zodiac, a Santa Maria-based company that produces airplane interiors.

The new classes range from introductory courses such as Survey of Machining, a class that prepares students to pursue a career as a machinist, to more advanced courses aimed at students already working in the manufacturing industry. One of the new additions from the spring semester included a successful series on the principle of lean manufacturing, a philosophy that focuses on manufacturing in the most efficient way.

“We sent four employees to the lean manufacturing class and they returned with new ideas that we are starting to implement,” said Eric Melsheimer, vice president of Melfred Borzall, a Santa Maria company that manufactures drilling tools.

There will be six machine technology courses on the 2010 fall schedule, including a four- week course in green manufacturing and more classes aimed at training machinists. A trained machinist works in all types of manufacturing, and pay for the position starts at $15-20 an hour.

All of the additions and changes to the machine technology program are designed to address the needs of local industry and to help students fill the more than 15,000 manufacturing jobs available on the Central Coast, according to state labor department statistics, Mabry said.

“Finding skilled workers in Santa Maria is a continuous problem for our company as well as other similar companies,” said Jay Hardy, president of medical equipment manufacturing company, Hardy Diagnostics. “Allan Hancock College is our main hope for remedying this problem and as we emerge from the recession we rely on Hancock to keep our operation efficient, productive and competitive.”

Registration for the fall semester continues through August 28 with classes starting on August 23. For more information on the machine technology program, contact Mabry at 922-6966 ext.4137 or email him at rmabry@hancockcollege.edu.

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