College opens manufacturing lab

By Martin Gibson

Columbia Gorge News

THE DALLES — Columbia Gorge Community College’s (CGCC) new Industrial Training and Assessment Center (ITAC), built to serve local manufacturers with workforce and equipment needs, celebrated its opening Feb. 20. 

It’s “a resource designed to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers improve efficiency, reduce costs, and build a stronger technical workforce here in the Columbia Gorge,” according to a press release from CGCC president Kenneth Lawson.

More than $2.3 million in federal dollars went into the renovation.

Prototyping, laser sintering, and additive manufacturing are possible here, “giving companies access to tools that are often out of reach for smaller firms,” Lawson wrote. 

The speakers who came to testify in support of the program at its opening were also from local companies: a venture capitalist project manager from Mid-Columbia Economic Development District, former aerospace worker, and local business owner. Instructor Robert Wells-Clark also spoke, accepting an Oregon Teacher of the Year award. He called out some former students in the crowd who went through the program, a route to well-paying jobs through its community partners. 

“We get really focused on industry being post secondary, because that’s where our students go. We want them to get jobs. Want them to be successful. We want to make those direct connections,” he said. Elementary school students visit to learn printing and understand manufacturing, becoming “a generation of students that are going to really grasp that you don’t just go to the store and buy something, somebody made that — somebody put that together,” Wells-Clark said.

“One of the things that we really have focused on as a college is making sure that we are providing equitable pathways for our students and for our community, and that we are also promoting economic growth, inclusive prosperity and a thriving community. And I can’t think of a better program that really helps show how we can do that,” Lawson said at the opening.

The three lead instructors have done “over $650,000 worth of product” and more than 60 projects with 30 different manufacturing partners in the last couple years. They prototype, teach, and invent stuff. 

“That’s how we create economic growth and thriving communities,” Lawson concluded.

Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, who helped secure the renovation’s grants, both sent letters of congratulation to be read at the opening.