Partners Donate Cutting System to College

A joint effort among three manufacturing industry leaders, Airgas (Radnor, PA), an Air Liquide company, Hypertherm, Inc. (Hanover, NH), and Machitech Automation (Sunset Hills, MO), led to a recent donation of high-definition plasma cutting technology to the students of the Ferris State University (FSU; Big Rapids, MI) Welding Engineering Technology program. The companies collaboratively donated and installed a brand new high-definition CNC cutting system within the Center for Advanced Manufacturing in the Swan Technical Arts Building at FSU, which recently underwent a $30 million expansion funded in part by the state of Michigan. This HD cutting system has the latest and top selling technology, including the Hypertherm XPR 300 and the unique Machitech 5-axis beveling head.

In a time when the welding industry is facing a shortage in skilled labor and STEM graduates, the field of welding is also undergoing a rapid transformation and evolution in manufacturing technologies. There are more jobs than welders, and many of the jobs now require advanced skill sets to program and operate new robotic and automated cutting systems. Studies show that by 2025, nearly 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled, and 2 million are expected to go unfilled due to a skills gap.

Students enrolled in the Welding Engineering Technology bachelor’s degree program at Ferris State also receive Hypertherm’s ProNest CAD/CAM software, so they’ll have years of training and experience using the latest technology when they graduate and preparing them for these skilled positions. David Murray, an associate professor in welding engineering technology at FSU, commented, “Private contributions like this – which is one of the largest collective donations our program has received to date – are amplifying the public support we’re receiving and making it possible for our students to learn on the best equipment available. Students will be able to cross that graduation stage and keep walking right into a production facility and get to work welding things like ships, tractors and automobiles.”

Dan Sheets, the vice president of advanced fabrication technology at Airgas and an FSU alumnus, added, “I spend a great deal of my time interfacing with heads of manufacturing companies within the Rust Belt of the United States and I keep hearing the same thing: our customers are facing major challenges in finding skilled workers who are prepared for jobs in the advanced manufacturing technologies industry. We have a vested interest in helping our customers remain competitive and we feel that investing in programs such as this FSU program will pay dividends to our customer base in the future. After meeting with and understanding FSU’s equipment needs, it was clear that a mechanized cutting system would bring tremendous value to the program over the coming years. Our strategic cutting automation partners at Hypertherm and Machitech stepped up and collaborated to develop a solution that not only fills the mechanized cutting technology requirement, but provides top-of-the-line technology for the students.”

www.airgas.com