OTC OPENS 'GAME-CHANGING' PLASTER MANUFACTURING CENTER, A HIGH-TECH TRAINING FACILITY
By: Claudette Riley
Springfield News-Leader
Opened with fanfare Monday, the Robert W. Plaster Center for Advanced Manufacturing will operate as a training facility for students and local workers. But it was also built as a showcase.
"This whole building was built for tour-ability," said Ozarks Technical Community College chancellor Hal Higdon.
"One of the things we heard loud and clear from our advisory board, from our trustees, from our foundation, from business and industry, is we need to make people understand manufacturing is clean, safe, cool, well-paying and modern."
The goal, he explained, is to help more young people view manufacturing as a sought-after career option.
Higdon welcomed a standing-room-only crowd to the 120,000-square-foot facility built at the corner of National Avenue and Chestnut Expressway — a highly visible corner of the OTC campus — for $40 million.
"It is not an understatement to say this is a game-changing day in the history of the college," he said.
Funding included a property tax increase approved by voters in April 2018, at least $12 million in state funding, and contributions from regional partners including the Robert W. Plaster Foundation.
The center is the largest building project in OTC’s history.
Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe said the assembly stairs at the front of the center are a perch from which to "show young people what their future could look like if they go to OTC."
"This is workforce development. You actually have a physical facility now that stretches beyond anyone's possible imagination," said Kehoe, calling it a model for the region and the state.
He cited a 2017 study projecting the PMC, a public-private partnership, will have a $400 million economic impact on the region in the next decade.
"There is a great case for this not only in the need and what kids will learn here but also in how it benefits the economy," he said.
Several speakers said the center, and the training it provides, will help attract industry to southwest Missouri.
"There is no end to the educational opportunities, business opportunities and workforce opportunities,” said State Sen. Lincoln Hough. “We hear all the time that we’re short on workers. This facility is how we change that.”
Local companies will access the center to train employees, create operational processes for new equipment, and conduct research and development.
Higdon announced Monday that Lebanon-based DT Engineering will be the first to fill a 15,000-square-foot section of the "high bay" this fall. It is adjacent, on the main floor, to the technology lab and the Gene Haas Precision Machining Lab.
The second floor is filled with training, drafting, repair, and prototyping labs. At the top of the stairs, visitors can spend time in the Emerson Innovation Discovery Lab. Emerson is a global technology and engineering company based in St. Louis.
Keith Calhoun, director of operations for Emerson’s compressor manufacturing locations in Missouri, said the demand for training and automation in the company's facilities has only increased.
"The skill set and training needed to help our technicians be successful in the installation, troubleshooting and maintenance of automation processes is critical for our success," he said. "Today, we employ dozens of graduates of OTC's technical program."
Calhoun added: "We wee this graduate number continuing to grow in the future."
Classes start Aug. 22. The center is now home to seven technical training programs at OTC, including:
Automation and Robotics
Cybersecurity
Drafting and Design
Information Technology Infrastructure
Manufacturing Technology
Mechatronics
Precision Machining
Paul Sundy, chair of the OTC Board of Trustees, is an OTC graduate. He said the flexibility of the center will allow it to evolve as industry demands.
"I'm excited for what we are going to offer ... the students, the fourth-grader that's going to come take a tour here, the nontraditional student, the mom and dad who might be thinking 'Wait, I got to go learn Megatronics, I am going to go learn a different trade that changes my life and betters my family,'" Sundy said. "I'll leave you with this; The future is now. The building is here. We'll see you soon."