New Training Center Will Put Kentucky at the Forefront of Changes in Manufacturing

LOUISVILLE, KY – The soon-to-open UL Additive Manufacturing Competency Center (AMCC) on the University of Louisville’s Belknap Campus will help ensure that Kentucky remains at the forefront of the rapidly evolving manufacturing sector.

The center, which is scheduled to open this fall, will train engineers and other professionals from around the world on sophisticated 3D printing and other additive manufacturing machinery.

It will aid in the “critical development of the skills that it will take for us to move into a new space,” Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear says. “Those regions that don’t continue to keep up will be left behind.”

UofL is opening the new training center with UL LLC, the Northbrook, IL-based global science safety company. It will be located in the J.B. Speed School of Engineering’s Institute for Product Realization. Its neighbors will be the FirstBuild micro-factory and the newly opened Engineering Education Garage, which houses space for student projects.

The UL AMCC will offer hands-on training in additive manufacturing, focusing on metals. Curriculum will cover design set up and corrections, machine assembly, and parts production, inspection, testing and validation.

The training will teach students how to produce metal parts, establish safety systems and identify hazards in the emerging field of additive manufacturing.

UofL President James Ramsey says the new center is “an important piece of who we are as a university” because it will help workers improve their skills to fill jobs in a changing field. “We think this raises the bar in many ways,” he says.

Classes are scheduled to begin at the UL AMCC in October, with a goal of training 100 workers before the end of the year. That figure is expected to steadily grow, before topping out at around 900 students in 2019.

The training that the workers receive here will allow them to “adopt new technology quickly and safely,” according to UL CEO Keith Williams.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said he believes the center will enhance the city’s reputation as “a place to come” to participate in the additive manufacturing movement. It is important, he said, for the city to entice some of the students who come here to remain and bring their businesses to the city.

Featured

  • ed tech conference calendar

    Upcoming Awards, Events & Webinars

  • Wyoming District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    Laramie County School District #1 in Cheyenne, Wy., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming Mountain View Elementary School, according to a news release. The facility has an estimated completion date of summer 2028, and it will have the capacity for 650 students in fifth and sixth grade.

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.

  • UPenn Announces Completion of New Veterinary Education Facility

    The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Penn., recently finished construction on an 11,800-square-foot veterinary education building, according to a news release. The Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education is the first dedicated classroom facility at the New Bolton Center, a large-animal hospital and campus about 35 miles west of the campus proper.