The following is an excerpt from an article that was originally published by Clover Park Technical College. To read the article in its entirety, visit Clover Park's website: "CPTC and Clover Park bridge a critical workforce gap."
Trident Seafoods – the largest vertically integrated seafood harvesting and processing company in North America – faced a challenge. Like many employers, the company was struggling to keep pace with the growing demands of automation – and bridge a gap between cutting-edge technology and the people who operate and maintain it.
Workers in its Alaska processing facilities needed upskilling, but there weren’t any established programs in the state that could conveniently meet the need. Alaska high schools were only beginning to develop relevant curricula, and nothing was in place to support the kind of specialized training Trident was seeking.
So, the company began looking beyond Alaska’s borders. That search led them to Clover Park Technical College (CPTC).
"We discovered that CPTC’s Mechatronics program was a really good fit for us," said Stephanie Anderson, Trident’s Facilities Engineering Project Manager. "Our learning and development team got to work to see what would be possible."
Tailor-Made Training to Meet Industry Demand
The Mechatronics program combines electrical, mechanical and computer engineering skills to prepare students not only for careers in advanced manufacturing, automation and industrial maintenance, but also to upskill existing workers so they can grow and stay in those careers. Students learn to troubleshoot complex systems, work with programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and maintain robotics and automated machinery – skills that mirror Trident’s technical operations.
CPTC partnered with Trident to adapt its existing Mechatronics curriculum to create an accelerated program designed specifically for the company’s workforce.
We're putting people into roles that will sustain themselves and our communities."
"This contextualized approach is critical to making the program work and requires a close, collaborative relationship with the company," CPTC Mechatronics Instructor Mike Mavor said. "Students take the same courses and meet the same outcomes as our regular enrollees, but we map that content to specific scenarios and activities that Trident employees are likely to encounter."
It’s a new twist on a hands-on, industry-focused training model that CPTC is known for – ensuring employees not only have the academic knowledge they need, but also the practical skills they can apply immediately.
"We want all our students to walk away with the ability to do and perform from day one on the job," said CPTC Dean of Instruction for Advanced Manufacturing Dr. Claire Korschinowski. "We’re putting people into roles that will sustain themselves and our communities."
Continue reading this article: "CPTC and Clover Park bridge a critical workforce gap."