Au Revoir Dave!

FLATE News for March 2012 is that David Gula, FLATE Outreach Manager, is retiring this month. Dave tells us it’s his 5^th, or so retirement. I haven’t probed back to the first one, but maybe this will be his last. Dave came to FLATE at our very beginnings, channeled to us from the Florida High Tech Corridor’s Tech Path’s efforts. In 2002, FLATE was still an idea with promise. The promise inspired the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program to invest $70,000 in a “Planning Grant for one year for the FLATE leadership team to develop its “plan,” and define the regional and statewide need.” Looking for something to do and someplace to volunteer to help grow the pipeline of students interested in STEM career pathways, Dave started attending our NSF ATE Regional Center Planning Grant meetings. His contributions to our “volunteer” planning team’s activities and to our mission became so valuable that we convinced him to accept a contract to help us with our industry surveying during that period. This activity defined the need for educational reform for manufacturing education throughout the state.

After securing our Center level funding in the summer of 2004 and opening our doors as Florida’s Advanced Technological Center of Excellence for Manufacturing Education, Dave joined out team as our full time “Outreach Manager” in 2005. Since then, his activities have been legendary in FLATE. Dave first helped us define what “Outreach Manager” could and would mean as a component of FLATE which was to include industry tours for students in STEM programs in middle and high schools. Dave developed and implemented a great process. To date, over 3,500 Florida students have participated in FLATE’s “Made in Florida” industry tours of manufacturing facilities. In addition to tours, Dave was responsible for developing and implementing the FLATE summer robotics camps which quickly became another signature FLATE event that continues to run strong. 

In between tours and camps, Dave visits companies, gives student presentations at schools and other venues. Dave also helps FLATE “look” great by printing and mounting posters and flyers, and keeping outreach web pages up-to-date. Recently he took over parental custody of “Brandon” our NAO robot. Additionally, he supports the rest of FLATE staff in many ways for all of our activities and has been a great team player. He will be missed both by the FLATE staff, his team of FLATERS, and the family on the HCC—Brandon campus where FLATE resides. Although we do not know what Dave will be doing next, we do know you might see him at local football games, shopping for chocolate, volunteering at local robotics competitions,  relaxing in Winter Haven, or under a Rose Bowl Day Parade float (before, during or after the parade).

As you join us in celebrating Dave’s contributions to FLATE, please take a moment to read the rest of our stories in the spring edition of the FLATE Focus. This edition highlights a a Fabrication Lab in Sarasota that is generating interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through personalized manufacturing projects. You can learn about Hillsborough Community College’s ongoing sustainability and college “greening” efforts, and read about the Machining program at Pinellas Technical Education Center and its role in meeting the demand for skilled machinists in Florida and across the nation. Hope many of you will join us at the following FLATE events this month: NSF grants workshop (for educators and administrators); MATEC's online webinar for innovative manufacturing featuring FLATE and EMS-USA--one of FLATE's business partners, and hope to see some of you at the advanced manufacturing technology forum in Orlando. Don’t forget to take a stab at the new sTEm puzzle!

Hurray! You can now print individual articles in the FLATE Focus. Just click on the ‘print” button after each article.

The Many Faces of Dave's FLATERS

Machining Program at pTEC Addresses a National Need for Skilled Machinists

Peter Buczynsky, owner of PharmaWorks, manufacturing company in Odessa FL wants to expand his business and move into a bigger facility. He can’t. New England Machinery, another manufacturer located in Manatee County, FL is looking to expand its payroll. So far it hasn’t. These companies are not holding back due to a hiring freeze. According to recent reports published in the Tampa Tribune and in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, they are being held back due to an acute shortage of skilled workers. As schools slash funding for technical programs, manufacturers across the board are increasingly finding it difficult to find skilled machinists, engineers and technicians.

In an effort to fill this void for qualified, skilled and certified workers, pTEC (Pinellas Technical Education Center) in Clearwater, FL currently offers the Precision Machining Technology program. Eric McClendon, assistant director at the Campus is a machinist supporter extraordinaire who says “every consumer and industrial product exists because of machining…our modern life completely depends on the hard work and ingenuity of machinists.” The mission of the program, he says, is to prepare students for employment as entry level machinists, tool makers, lathe operators, mill operator, grinding operators, electrical discharge machine (EDM) operators and computer numerical control (CNC) machine operator/basic programmers. “We offer a problem solving atmosphere, and we share with them our experiences, which allows them to learn and be excited with this program.”

Centrally connected and embedded into the program is a state registered apprenticeship program that is tied to the NIMS (National Institute of Metal Working Skills) Certification. NIMS was started by several metal working trade associations to develop metal working skills standards. Over a period of time it developed different levels of testing standards that range from Machinists level 1 through III. These skills standards are currently formulated and recognized by industry across the nation.

At pTEC, students enrolled in the Precision Machining Technology program can choose up to four apprentice programs out of a total of 10. These apprentice programs train 34 students currently enrolled in the apprentice program to either be a certified machinist, CNC programmer/operator, CNC machinist or mold maker etc. The NIMS System affords

maximum flexibility for trainees and employers alike. In that, the system “rewards trainees enabling them to advance at their own pace in defined career ladders throughout the metalworking industry.” Using attained competencies in lieu of a rigid set of hours, employers are able to effectively monitor and measure progress and reward individual initiative. Roy Sweatman, owner and president of Southern Manufacturing Technologies, a precision custom high-tech manufacturer in Tampa, agrees the competency based learning offered by the pTEC Machining program helps students learn things at their own pace based on their competencies. “A lot of manufacturing has moved offshore, and a few of us are working on getting manufacturing back onshore, and the NIMS program is a step towards that direction.” Sweatman said.

Industry certification is undoubtedly the cornerstone of the program. In addition to the NIMS certification, the machining program offers four, 30 hour courses in Safety, Manufacturing Processes & Production, Quality Practices & Measurement, and Maintenance Awareness which is part of the national Manufacturing Skill Standards Council certification (MSSC). Upon graduation, students not only earn a certificate of completion from pTEC, but a certificate from the Department of Education, Apprenticeship Division as well as a NIMS and MSSC certifications. Students completing the program can also receive college credits that can be transferred to a four year engineering program in Florida. “Industry recognizes and values certifications which in turn increases compensation and employability opportunities” McClendon said.

Indeed, the machining program together with the NIMS and MSSC certification is a powerhouse for graduating students. Given the high demand for machinists across the nation, graduates are assured of several lucrative opportunities serving as machine operators, machinists, tool & dye makers, designers, engineers or even entrepreneurs and business owners. A great advantage to students is that they are highly marketable and can get a job anywhere in the country. A claim confirmed by Sweatman who says “if someone walks into my office with a NIMS credential I will hire them immediately.”

For more information on the NIMS certification and the machining program at pTEC contact Eric McClendon at MCCLENDONE@pcsb.org, or visit www.myptec.org. For information on FLATE and its industry centered curriculum and outreach initiatives contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org, or visit www.fl-ate.org and www.madeinflorida.org.

Fab Lab in Sarasota Serves as an Innovation Incubator of the Future

Say you are a bicyclist who needs a console to mount a GPS to your bike’s handlebars, but don’t have the money, or equipment to produce a prototype of your invention. If you are innovative by nature, want to experiment transforming your ideas into making a product, a Fab Lab may be your Mecca. A Fab Lab or Fabrication Laboratory is a place where ideas come to life.

“If you think it, we can create it here in the Fab Lab” says Eric McGrath, foreman at the Faulhaber Fab Lab at the GWIZ Science Museum in Sarasota. The museum’s mission is to serve as a “gateway for lifelong adventures in science,” and was founded in 1990. The Fab Lab at the GWIZ museum came into being through the generous donations of Dr. Fritz Faulhaber who through the Faulhaber Family Foundation donated $400,000 to GWIZ to launch the project. It is a champion of science education not only in Sarasota County, but the entire state of Florida. What defines the fab lab is “personal manufacturing.” It is “custom creation” at its best. Its main purpose is to make one of a kind product rather than mass manufactured products.

Although work in the fab lab entails using computers and computer-guided machinery, McGrath says the end result is a physical product, not merely a digital construction that ceases to exist when the lights are out. Given its mission to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) literacy through cross-disciplinary collaboration and innovation, the Faulhaber Fab Lab gives community members access to high-tech tools and materials as well as several high grade, industrial design and production equipment with simple design interface. The lab is equipped with CNC machines, manual metal cutting lathes, vinyl cutter, embroidery machines, CNC routers, soldering stations, and plasma cutters that enable users of all ages to make a number of products that range from plaques, puzzles, 3D portraits, gaskets, camera adaptors, or anything else they can think of.

The lab is truly a community-based initiative. Since opening its doors to the public in Spring 2011, staff have helped, trained, mentored and supported students, teachers, as well as members from the community fine tune individual inventions using the latest cutting edge technology. McGrath describes the Fab Lab as “a space where people from all kinds of backgrounds can collaborate, create and brainstorm.” It is like a workshop, or a garage of the future that heavily promotes digital fabrication, and a place where “the practical applications of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and craftsmanship come into play.” Through it all, McGrath hopes to foster innovation, art, learning, craftsmanship, and the thrill of creating something from scratch, all the while promoting the understanding of STEM.

For information on the Fab Lab at the Sarasota based GWIZ Science Museum contact Eric McGrath at ericm@gwiz.org, or visit www.gwiz.org. For information on FLATE’s STEM initiatives visit www.fl-ate.org and www.madeinflorida.org, or contact Dr. Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org.