Northwest Aerospace News August | September Issue No. 4 | Page 12

T
ool Gauge feels that robots are
a way to drive down labor costs
— especially with a $15 per
hour minimum wage cou-
pled with ever-increasing
raw material costs.
“We are currently evalu-
ating collaborative robots
designed to work near hu-
mans. They are easy to program
and have the ability to sense when a
person comes in close proximity, in
which case they either slow down or
stop completely,” adds Lee.
In addition to robotics, Tool Gauge
expects to vertically integrate more
functions such as painting and parts
manufacturing. Lee feels that the more
functionality the company can bring
in-house, the more good-paying local
jobs it can create for the South Sound
region.
Lee doesn’t feel that they will lose
any jobs due to robotics, which is a
common misperception in the manu-
facturing world. Instead, he feels that
there will be an increase in specially
educated, higher-wage positions, lead-
ing to new job titles at the company.
Training for robotics repair and main-
tenance jobs is currently happening
at 10 of Washington’s 34 communi-
ty and technical colleges. Machine
operation will be another skill set that
will require additional training and
education.
Lee expects the company will hire
people with these specific skill sets in
the future.
Washington’s Community and Tech-
nical Colleges (CTCs) are ramping
up with training programs that teach
people how to work with robotics.

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NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS
Everett Community College based in
Everett, Washington has a program
called Robotics Foundation Certificate
which, according to program materials,
“is designed as a general introduction
to the basics of robotic operation, basic
programing, interfacing, and material
handling in a complex mechatronics
system. Students will gain conceptual,
technical, and practical knowledge of
robotic applications and how robotics
is applied to industrial tasks using
hands-on, interactive robotic devices.”
Main landing gear
Spindle assembly downlock
Forging, 4330M steel
Laura Baker, interim associate dean of
the Advanced Manufacturing Train-
ing & Education Center (AMTEC) at
Everett Community College explains
that this program is not meant as a
stand-alone. “Most of our students
take this course as an elective within
the mechatronics program and not as
a stand-alone credential.” Everett also
offers a program called Mechatronics,
along with nine other CTCs, that train
people to troubleshoot and fix robot-
ics and automation technology on the
factory floor.
So far, AMTEC has trained a little over
200 students. Baker added, “Many of
our local industry partners are invest-
ing in robots and automation process-
es, and we are definitely excited to see
both incumbent workers and manu-
facturing students taking the robotics
class and mechatronics program.”
Structural
Support housing
7075-01 aluminum hardened to T 73