Purdue Polytechnic Anderson to focus on educating industrial workforce

The building will offer students access to classrooms, a maker space with tools and machinery and a micro-factory where advanced manufacturing companies can design and refine parts or processes.

It’s being built on property that was once a General Motors facility, which Purdue Polytechnic Anderson Director Cory Sharp said is emblematic of the work the school is trying to do — using the city’s manufacturing heritage to lead into 21st century manufacturing techniques.

“It’s the legacy, this community and region has a long history in manufacturing,” he said. “If you look back there was a plethora of engineers and entrepreneurs (in the area), that’s what we are trying to bring back.”

The school will offer degrees in supply chain management and computer information technology, as well as engineering technology.

Plant 3 will be more than just a classroom, said Chuck Staley, president and CEO of Flagship Enterprises, which has partnered with Purdue to build the building. He said it will encompass everything from theoretical learning in the classroom to hands-on application in the maker’s space and micro-factory. Three companies have already signed on to work in the micro-factory, although Staley said he can't yet release the names of those businesses.

“The process is you learn in the classroom and there is a disconnect with the real world; people who graduate with tech degrees and don’t know how the business world works,” he said, “These students are going to come out of the door and will have worked with real companies.”

Staley said the goal is to attract both young high school students and more non-traditional students who already have career experience to prepare them for some of the businesses that will be opening in the area in the next couple of years, such as NTN Driveshaft. The “weak-link” between Anderson’s aspiration as a manufacturing mega house and its current status, he said, is a well-educated and work-ready workforce.

“We are all part of that process of emphasizing the value and necessity on this type of technological education,” he said. “The Anderson community is doing a great job of helping to bridge that gap; it’s the beginning but we can do a lot more.“

It’s also a matter of changing the minds of some people who graduated from high school thinking that degree was enough to get a good job at a factory.

“When I got out (of high school), you could start at Remy putting a nut on a part and that was good, but now it’s not like that,” Staley said.

Eric Davis, acting principal at Anderson High School, said most students know they need something more than a high school degree. Whether that’s a two-year associate’s degree, a four-year bachelor’s degree or more depends on the student, though.

“Students today they know that they need to have different types of skills for today’s workforce so they are excited to learn the new skills that they need to excel in today’s world,” he said.

Anderson High School already offers advanced dual-credit classes in areas such as engineering design, principles of engineering and computer integrated manufacturing. When the Polytechnic Institute opens, Davis plans to work to expand the AHS offerings

Around 500 students take part in these dual-credit courses currently, or about one-quarter of enrolled students.

The building is already making an impact in the community before it’s even opened, Staley said.

In construction, Flagship Enterprises focused on hiring local and minority-, women- or veteran-owned businesses.

“I think logically since the flagship funding comes from recaptured sales tax … we should make every effort to spend those dollars in the same community in which they were created,” Staley said.

Some people may say a government organization should focus on getting the work done by spending as few tax dollars as possible, but Staley doesn’t see it that way.

"Low bid is obviously important,” he said, “but if only a small difference separates a quality, local contract, one we know, one we have experienced versus an unknown, I think we will probably get a better building out of someone who has ties to the community.”