BBCC program provides manufacturing skills training

MOSES LAKE — Eduardo Valencia said he looked around at work and saw things were changing.

Valencia worked at an agricultural processing facility, he said, looked at the production line, “and saw how everything was evolving.” Electricians and mechanics were getting good money for their skills, and Valencia said he liked the idea of making more money.

So to acquire those skills, Valencia, of Othello, turned to the Industrial Systems Technology program at Big Bend Community College.

The program provides two associate degrees, maintenance mechanic technology and industrial electrical technology, said Steve Matern, the part time instructor. The program’s goal is to “provide skills for local residents to qualify as entry level career path employees in the local industries,” Matern wrote.

Gavin Clark, of Moses Lake, had a job as an auto mechanic. He knew how to fix cars, he said, but didn’t know much about the scientific and theoretical principles behind the practical applications. “There’s the theory, and there’s working on the car.”

So he completed BBCC’s auto mechanics program, but spotted a career that might be even better. He enrolled in the industrial systems program; there’s more opportunity for career advancement in IST, he said. “Plus the money’s about twice (as much).”

Manufacturing jobs are still out there – in fact, manufacturers are actively looking for potential employees with the right skills, said instructor James Ayers. But manufacturing has changed.

Yuri Bugaychuk demonstrated the new manufacturing process on the class equipment – and in essence, the new manufacturing means a lot of monitoring and evaluating systems.

The assembly line simulation fills bottles with water and caps them, and all the operator has to do is press a couple buttons. “Basically no more hands,” Valencia said. “It’s all automated. You just babysit, basically.”

“This is a mini-version of production,” Ayers said. The assembly line is equipped with sensors for those occasions when something goes wrong, helping pinpoint the trouble spot. To fix it “you would start with the sensors and go from there,” Bugaychuk said.

Classes focus on the electrical and mechanical theories behind the operations, Matern wrote. The program also has equipment to simulate properly functioning and malfunctioning components throughout any manufacturing operation. It’s similar to equipment that can be found in manufacturing operations in Moses Lake, Ayers said. “Just a lot bigger,” Bugaychuk said.

He’s from Soap Lake and has been working since he was 14, he said, attending Smokiam Alternative High School, which better fit his work schedule. He had a job when he enrolled in the program, he said, but juggling work and school got a little tricky, so “I quit my job and took double the classes.” When he graduates in June he’ll have two associate degrees, his CDL and industry certifications, he said.

“A lot of us work full time,” Valencia said, and he’s one of them. Ayers said that of the current class, six students were at work Thursday morning.

Graduates of BBCC’s industrial systems program are working all in Moses Lake and all over the west, Ayers said, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, in mining, manufacturing, food processing. The program has three women in the current class, and has graduated 12 women, Ayers said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.