LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A local family that's been involved in manufacturing for decades has made a major investment in a program that will help train workers for years to come.
Thanks to his training at Rhodes State College, the technical skills Isaiah Thompson has learned to program this robot to play Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" are the same that he is using as an apprentice at GROB Systems, working with a variety of robots in the manufacturing field.
"Robotics is where a lot of manufacturing has been and is continuing to grow. So being able to actually get hands-on experience with these robotics and being able to program it from scratch, being able to do it all by hand, has been incredibly invaluable to me and my position," says Isaiah Thompson, Rhodes Graduate and GROB Apprentice.
Thanks to a donation from the Ar-Hale Family Foundation, which was started by Leo and Arlene Hawk, the Advanced Manufacturing Learning Center is equipped with a variety of robots that the students will encounter out in the field. Rhodes renamed the center after the foundation because of their investment. The Hawk family owns American Trim and knows the importance of training for the future of local manufacturing.
"Our family foundation has always been an ardent supporter of projects that benefit the Lima region, and being a family-owned manufacturing company, we recognize the importance of providing a trained workforce and really see the value of the training that is being provided here at Rhodes," says Janet Hawk, The Ar-Hale Family Foundation.
This is the second major donation that the foundation has made toward Rhodes State; the first was for the Borra Center for Health Sciences. The college knows the importance of community members supporting them as they train the next generation of workers in this area.
"Their support from their foundation has really helped us bring in top-notch equipment and encouraged students that are innovative to come in and look at manufacturing because we are trying to prepare the manufacturing employees for currently and for the future. And they have just been a great support for Rhodes State College," says Dr. Cynthia Spiers, president of Rhodes State College.
Rhodes State has invested over one million dollars in equipment and technology for the advanced manufacturing training.
