By Matt Brown, Multimedia Director.
Our current landscape is one controlled and driven by computers. Mechanical and electrical systems intertwine and interface. The tradesman now automate aspects of work with the aid of robotics.
“The world has changed,” says Mike Finelli, chair of the technical, trades and manufacturing division. “You’re not just someone with greasy knuckles and a wrench. You just can’t work on things without knowing how to interact with all the computer systems.”
Stemming from mechanic and electronic systems, mechatronics merges the computer and industrial principles of engineering.
Delta now offers a mechatronic associates degree in applied science, an advanced certificate and a skilled trades apprenticeship. The program is new to the skilled trades division, as it was approved over the summer.
According to Finelli, companies whose machines fail would call in a mechanic who tells them “it’s an electrical issue,” and the electrician would then say “it’s a mechanical issue.”
“The reason that is,” explains Finelli, “is because sometimes it is both: the mechanical system appears to be working properly, but there is a fault that the electrical system is finding.”
Production is king, and companies are trying to move away from playing the blame game with technicians. There is now a demand for people who are versed in a wide range of things. Depending on the size of the company, they want “at least one person of staff that can go out and find the malfunction and then can actually fix that,” says Finelli.
“There is an official mechatronics skill trade program, registered with the state, and I have had a lot of interest from students,” says Diane Lobsiger, assistant professor in the technical, trades and manufacturing division. “We have a lot of demand.”
“We have had a lot of companies asking us to have a mechatronics program,” continued Lobsiger, “so they could send their people here to get trained.”
On campus, interaction between programs should be a focus. Finelli says that “Here, what we have tried to do more and more is have communication. We are making sure students are not only seeing different things, but interacting with different things.”
“When you are out in the workplace you aren’t around only your trade,” Finelli continued, “You are going to be around all kinds of people doing all kinds of things and you have to get used to that.”
Getting the trades to talk not only benefits the students, but potential employers as well. Having experience in a chemical processing lab or an automotive repair shop may “make a connection to get a job at places they never thought of applying to before,” says Finelli.
Citing a real life example, Finelli recounts a time he was out at Monark Equipment Technologies in Auburn. “They opened these big-paneled electrical boxes which are now just full of programmable logic controllers (PLCs),” he begins, “When talking to one of the workers, I mentioned that I needed to show Diane [Lobsiger] the boxes and the worker replies that he was just in her classes!”
Nowadays everything is driven by PLCs. There is a computer system running something, somewhere. Again, mechanical and electrical systems are intertwined. To fix a small mechanical issue in a modern vehicle you have to tear apart all kinds of subsystems just to get to it.
Society still suffers from the idea that technical trades are dirty jobs.
“The ultimate thing we are going to strive for is having the best training mechanism for the students,” says Finelli. “I want them to see the kind of stuff they will have an opportunity to work on, see the technology that’s here.”
Diane Lobsiger would, “like to show [you] our labs.” Laughing, Finelli adds, “Way too many people come to Delta and say, ‘I didn’t know you had this!’”
In the building we have an automation station, hydraulics and pneumatics, mechanical drive systems, programmable logic controllers, conventional controls and more. Lobsiger believes the end goal is getting “the students feeling confident [with systems] and be ready to roll on the first day.”
If you have additional questions about the mechatronics program, call Diane Lobsiger at 989-686-9441. For information on apprenticeships, contact Harvey Schneider at 989-686-9476.