Classroom

Case Study: How One College Brought a Technology Training Center to Life

The College of Lake County’s Advanced Technology Center was built to fill local manufacturing jobs with locally trained students.

Andy Viano

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Andy Viano is a journalist and editor at EdTech: Focus on Higher Education.

The manufacturing industry in Lake County, Illinois, just north of Chicago, employs nearly 100,000 of the county’s 700,000 residents and is responsible for nearly $50 billion of the county’s economy. It’s no stretch to say that the sector’s continued success is vital to the region’s future.

The College of Lake County had this fact in mind when mapping out its strategic plan in 2019. It made sense to consider the role the institution could play in supporting local manufacturing. The timing was particularly important, since manufacturing was undergoing a transition to what’s known as Industry 4.0 through incorporating the latest in tech, including robotics, automation and the Internet of Things.

Manufacturing businesses were now seeking employees trained on the latest technologies and trying to get their own employees retrained on up-to-date tools. CLC believed it could position itself as a local training ground for those employees if only it had the space and resources.

Click the link below to learn more about the College of Lake County’s new facility.

Just three years later, CLC had done it. The college’s Advanced Technology Center opened in time for the fall 2022 semester, and the 182,000-square-foot converted big-box store is now bustling with students receiving training specially designed to prepare them for jobs with the county’s many manufacturing companies.

The ATC was built in collaboration with CDW’s Higher Education team and is supported by a number of trusted vendors — including Cisco, Eaton, APC, Raritan, HP, HPE, Tripp Lite and Poly — that ensure the facility’s high-tech tools stay connected, powered and operable.

The facility and the curriculum were developed in close consultation with local manufacturers in Lake County. By intentionally tethering themselves to the robust manufacturing community, CLC created an unmistakable synergy that benefits both those businesses and their own students.

To learn more about this project, view the case study and check out the video and feature story below.

WATCH: The College of Lake County supports the next generation of manufacturing.

Photography by Matthew Gilson