Oct 5, 2002
Schools, Businesses Push For Manufacturing Training Center

By JOE HUMPHREY
jhumphrey@tampatrib.com

BRANDON - When it comes to manufacturing, the region has come a long way since Tampa was the cigar capital of the world. Manufacturing today is high-tech, high-dollar, high- stakes. And workers need to be highly trained.

Officials from colleges, school districts and businesses from seven West Central Florida counties have united to create more training opportunities throughout the region. With a $50,000 planning grant, they hope to attract a National Science Foundation training center to Tampa. The regional center for manufacturing education would be housed at Hillsborough Community College's Brandon campus. It would bring $3 million over three years in course development and training to the area, said Marilyn Barger, an HCC associate professor. Key players gathered Friday at HCC Brandon to celebrate the planning grant and reflect on what the center would mean for the region.

“If we're able to get this center,'' said Richard Gilbert, a University of South Florida engineering professor, ``we could use resources to identify for a company the types of skills employees may not have enough of.''

Employer needs include advanced training in quality control, something that has widespread significance not only for employers but consumers, too. Just like when experts ensured cigars were rolled just right a century ago, quality counts. Improved training, Gilbert and others predicted, would make a difference in locally manufactured products such as electronic circuits, contact lenses, biomedical equipment and orange juice.

The NSF application is due next year. If approved, the center could open by early 2004. Five community colleges, USF and school districts in Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota counties are involved. The coalition is seeking corporate support for the project. Reporter Joe Humphrey can be reached at (813) 657-4535.