Lehigh Carbon Community College recently renovated a mobile classroom to provide manufacturing training on a company’s work site for its employees. With the classroom completed, LCCC is ready to roll it out. The college showed off the mobile classroom and advanced manufacturing workshop in the Technology Center for Manufacturing Day earlier in October.

Thomas Bux, director of Workforce Development at LCCC, said the courses are offered in a flipped setting, which means that students study the practical portion of homework and reading online before taking the class in the trailer. This allows for them to spend most of their in-class time in a hands-on, instructor-facilitated setting where they can apply the skills they’ve learned.To complete all 12 segments would take about 250 hours. After the students complete each segment of the training, they are eligible to test for certification for that segment, Bux said.“We can work directly with a company to build a program to train people for the job,” he said.The mobile classroom also can be adjusted to a company’s needs. It can be used to train several employees at the company’s location or employees from several companies. This allows smaller companies to send as few as one employee to training. Specialized courses can be developed, but they may fall outside the schedule and would not be part of the PATH program, Bux said.While some companies are looking to provide training to current employees, others are looking to hire skilled labor.George Dzupinka, manufacturing technology instructor at LCCC, said these “companies don’t want to waste time. They want people who have the training from the get go.”PATH was developed to train people who are unemployed, underemployed or looking to make a change, so they can get the job. Financial assistance for the courses is available for those that qualify. Information about financial assistance can be found through Pennsylvania CareerLink or by contacting Susan Lushinsky, PATH program director at LCCC, at 610-799-1935.“Whatever your skill, we can help meet the students’ needs and the workforce needs,” Bux said.The advanced manufacturing program has even more courses available at LCCC’s Technology Center, including: AMIST Mechatronics 1 and 2, Fanuc Robotics, CNC Machining, Manufacturing Simulation and Production Technician.People can prepare for jobs as production technicians and concentrate in industrial electrical technician, industrial automation technician, industrial mechanical technician, mechatronics and programmable logic controllers. All of the programs are awarded with a Certificate of Completion.“If you like high-tech computers and have your hands in the hardware, then this is for you,” Dzupinka said. “The people we train are some of the most vital people in the company.”Todd Harper, of Tamaqua, began his studies in industrial automation in June. He works for a company that builds and owns carwashes. Currently, he manages one of the carwashes in Tamaqua.“I want to advance in the company,” Harper said. “And my boss is willing to help me pay for it.”Harper said one of his co-workers in the electrical department is nearing retirement age, so he thinks getting the certification will make it possible for him to move into that department.Being a self-paced program can be good and bad. Harper said it seems that no sooner did he commit to the program when his job got busy. Between juggling work, family and school, the training is taking him a little longer than he expected, but he’s glad he did it. When asked if he would recommend the program, he said, “Oh, absolutely.”Dzupinka said today’s manufacturing jobs are different from what they were decades ago. Many of these employees dress in casual professional attire, work in cubicles and stay clean. They also have starting wages of $20 to $25 per hour. People who are interested in robotic programming can make between $80,000 and $100,000, he said.The self-paced programs for individual students not affiliated with a company’s training program can begin almost any time of the year. Admission is continuous as is the training. It doesn’t follow the traditional college semesters of fall, spring or summer classes.Students study the subject online, and then come into the Technology Center for hands-on workshops with an instructor. Some students may complete the training in six weeks, but the college advises students to take it slower and really absorb the material. The time involved depends on how often the student comes in to the center.“We would rather they take 10 weeks and be fully competent,” Bux said.To become a production technician takes 200 hours of training and costs $995, Bux said. Industrial electrical technician, industrial automation technician and industrial mechanical technician all cost $2,750 for the training, but vary in hours. Electrical takes 284 hours of training, while automation takes 250 hours, and mechanical takes 245 hours.The training is funded in part by Pennsylvania Advanced Training and Hiring for the purpose of providing career-based training in advanced manufacturing, health care, transportation and logistics.People interested in PATH’s health care program can take classes to become a certified nurse aide, EKG technician, phlebotomy technician, pharmacy technician or health care administrative assistant.LCCC mobile trainingThe advanced manufacturing training in the mobile van consists of 12 segments.The segments and a couple of the courses for each include:• Reintroduction to Basic Math — Pre-Algebra, Problem Solving/Critical Thinking;• AC/DC Electrical Systems — Circuit Analysis, Inductance and Capacitance;• Electrical Systems Control — Sequencing Control, Timers and Advanced Systems;• Electrical Motor Control — Systems Troubleshooting, Automatic Input Devices;• Electronic Sensors — Introduction to Electronic Sensors, Electronic Sensor Applications;• Basic Mechanical Drives — Power Transmission Systems, Key Fasteners;• Light Duty V-Belt and Chain Drives — Introduction to V-Belt Drives, Introduction to Chain Drives;• Heavy Duty V-Belt Drives — Synchronous Belt Drives, Couplings;• Heavy Duty Chain Drives — Heavy Duty Chain Drives;• Pneumatics — Pneumatic Circuits, Pneumatic Speed Control Circuits;• Pneumatic System Construction — Pneumatic System Construction;• Basic Programmable Controllers (AB 5500 or Siemens Step 7) — Discrete I/O Interfacing, PLC Troubleshooting, Program Control Instructions and Application Development.• For more information go to

https://www.lccc.edu/career-training-and-personal-interest/path-career-training.