CLEVELAND — Lakeshore Technical College unveiled its new Center for Manufacturing Excellence: Integrated Manufacturing Center on Monday.

"This is not the manufacturing of our parents," LTC President Mike Lanser said. "The Center for Manufacturing Excellence is designed to keep pace with employer demand. The facility has been reconfigured to allow the college to offer new and evolving instruction."

The second phase of the college's Center for Manufacturing Excellence, the Integrated Manufacturing Center combines innovative methods of instruction and state-of-the-art technology to meet the needs of manufacturing education, according to an LTC news release. Special features of the facility include labs devoted to Motors/Drives, Mechanical, DC/AC, Hydraulics and Pneumatics, PLCs, Robotics and Wind Energy Technology.

"The center represents 14,000 square feet of remodeled space designed to prepare students for next-generation manufacturing careers," said Doug Lindsey, LTC's dean of Trade and Industry, Agriculture and Apprenticeship. "Here, robotics coursework will be combined with the industrial applications coursework to make machines talk and work together, just as they would on the shop floor. Students are able to develop projects that combine all areas of instruction for innovation and exploration."

A $238,000 federal grant supported the Integrated Manufacturing Center project and was used to increase quality and relevance of instruction through the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment.

Featured speakers at the event included Michael Potts, executive vice president of Orion Energy Systems; Mark Rhyan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Sargento Foods; Tyler Vorpagel, staff assistant to U.S. Rep Tom Petri; Frederick Brookhouse, senior business and education partnership manager for Snap-On Industrial; Ken Stubbe, executive director of the Economic Development Corporation of Manitowoc County; and LTC President Mike Lanser. Also in attendance were State Sen. Joe Leibham, area business leaders, LTC District Board members and LTC staff.

The first phase of LTC's Center for Manufacturing Excellence — the Flexible Training Arena — opened in October 2007. The facility doubled the college's capacity for training welders and improved the teaching facility for industrial maintenance and sheet metal apprenticeship.