St. Clair College opens new manufacturing training facility (October 06, 2003)

Officials from St. Clair College and Ford Motor Canada presided over the official opening of the Ford Centre for Excellence in Manufacturing (FCEM) on the college’s campus last week. The two-story building has 100,000 sq. ft. of floor space, which includes 35,000 sq. ft. of shop floor space. The building will be the focal point of the school’s training programs in manufacturing, engineering technology and skilled trades.
An equipment task force, chaired by Ed Bernard, president of Bernard Mould Ltd. (Oldcastle, ON) directed the purchase of $18 million in new equipment and software, including CNC milling machines, precision metal cutting equipment, CAD software, rapid prototyping equipment and equipment for hydraulics, electronics, plastics and metallurgical laboratories.
“This is a day that was four years in the making,” said Dr. John Strasser, president, St. Clair College Board of Governors. “Because of the historic association of Windsor and Ford Motor Canada, St. Clair College was destined to be the site of the FCEM.”
Mark Benoit, chair, Manufacturing Technology and Skilled Trades, said the FCEM will support a number of pre-apprenticeship programs, as well as two-, three- and four-year programs in manufacturing, mechanical and electronics engineering. The college is also working with the Ontario government to iron out the final details of a program that will provide skilled-trades upgrade training at the FCEM. If approved, the program will provide eligible journeymen and journeywomen with funding of up to 2/3 or 5/6 of the total cost of the training.
“One of our missions is to increase the supply of tradespeople in the precision metal-cutting industry,” said Benoit. “The FCEM is a tremendous new resource to help us accomplish this.”