THUNDER BAY — Electric cars and robot welders aren't the machines of the future, they're here now and they're at Confederation College.
“These are all things that they need in order to teach their students on how to maintain and fix new forms of technologies which are increasingly important in all kinds of industries,” Thunder Bay – Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski told Newswatch.
The college received $411,709 in funding from the federal government for its red seal trades apprenticeship enhancement strategy.
The college used the money to buy new training equipment and materials that meet the latest industry standards.
On Thursday, the School of Engineering Technology and Trade displayed its new robotic welder which, when placed in unsafe environments, could be used remotely.
The college is also training automotive students to do maintenance on its newly acquired electric vehicle, provided by Kia Performance.
Powlowski said technology has increasingly changed over the years, particularly in the automotive industry with electric vehicles.
Mechanics will need to know much more than how to repair car starters and an alternator, he said.
“It's totally different and you need to have people in the trades who are able to repair those things and this money has helped the college to purchase some of the things like the electric car that makes them able to work on these kinds of machines,” Powlowski said.
John Kantola, dean of the college's school of engineering technology and trade, said the college's partnership with Kia Performance might create opportunities for students to get some of the training the dealership's technicians are required to have, while the Ontario curriculum catches up with changing technology.
“There is a change happening through Skills Training Ontario, and following those standards, we are seeing a little bit of electrification coming through the automotive sector, but we're really not sure at this point in time, that might be a spin-off to an entirely different trade of sorts,”
“So, until that time comes, we're just privileged to have some of the leading-edge technology that will complement what we do right now with automotive service technicians.”
Other new equipment, still in transit to the college, includes milling machines and surface grinders that will support its industrial mill rights and mechanical programs, as well as a diesel trainer engine for students to train on heavy excavating equipment.
Powlowski said that the federal government needs to be at the table to ensure that skilled trade programs are outfitted with last technology.
“It's the colleges, it's the universities that teach this. But unless they're going to jack up the cost to the students, somebody presumably needs to help the universities and colleges keep up. This is something which we need for our economy,” Powlowski said.
“These industries, these changes are benefiting our country economically. We get the money back in taxes, so with that tax money we ought to be doing things which stimulate the economy and I think this is one of those things."
