business backgrounder | education and workforce a training model built for employer needs
Enter Clover Park Technical College’ s Accelerated Mechatronics Program. It’ s a model for industry-technical college partnerships that offers a blueprint to upskill the current workforce and strengthen the recruitment pipeline.
It distills core automation, controls, and systems integration into two-week blocks, for up to a total of nine months, scheduled around employer needs. And it gives employers a pathway to get employees from“ values match to skill ready,” explained Carl Wenngren, Clover Park mechatronics instructor.
The instructional team collaborates directly with companies to contextualize the offerings.
“ One thing these classes help with is fixing things, not just replacing them,” said Monty Myrtle, lead journeyman electrician at Trident Seafoods, a pilot partner in the program.“ Working in remote Alaska, that makes a big difference.” It’ s also given Myrtle greater confidence when troubleshooting.“ All of a sudden, I have another set of vocabulary that is on the same level as the engineers, which speeds up any troubleshooting that might be done over the phone. Before it often felt like the engineers spoke another language and I dreaded having to call them,” said Myrtle.
Opened in 2019, the 60,000 square foot advanced manufacturing lab at Clover Park features robotics and smart automation systems.
On a tour, you might see student employees huddled over diagnostic panels reprogramming Programmable Logic Controllers( PLC) or tracing live schematics— building skills in automation and integration. They’ re learning technical skills in robotics, maintenance, and systems integration.
While Clover Park has traditional certificate and degree mechatronic program options to train future workers, the accelerated option only happens when an area employer steps up.
“ That model doesn’ t exist unless we have a corporate partnership and mutual value proposition,” said Claire Korschinowski, dean of instruction at Clover Park.
It’ s a win-win for industry collaborators, who upskill valuable employees who spend minimal time away from work and return with ready-to-apply skills. And employees get training credentials and their regular paychecks, while contributing directly to employer goals.
“ They’ re helping the company where it matters most: through workforce investment that increases pay, profitability, safety, and sustainability,” said Korschinowski.
“ All of a sudden, I have another set of vocabulary that is on the same level as the engineers, which speeds up any troubleshooting that might be done over the phone. Before it often felt like the engineers spoke another language and I dreaded having to call them.”
— Monty Myrtle, lead journeyman electrician at Trident Seafoods
program duration: As little as two weeks and up to short months.
industries served: Manufacturing, logistics, aerospace, utilities, food processing.
learn more: www. cptc. edu / programs / mechatronics
contact: Claire Korschinowski,( 253) 589-5516 fall 2025 41