EVERETT — Edmonds College’s new training lab was once a high flying bird.
Last month, college President Amit Singh cut the ribbon on the Advanced Manufacturing Skills Center’s new “Innovation Lab,” a 12-ton section of a Boeing 767 tanker.
The 63-foot-long fuselage section, nicknamed the “Gray Ghost,” has been retrofitted and is now fully enclosed.
“The aerospace training lab will provide students with real-world work experience, and it’s the only one of its kind at an American college,” Singh said.
Boeing donated the fuselage last year to the college’s Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center at Paine Field.
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Launched in 2010, the center offers short-term manufacturing training.
“This is a great example of what happens when a college, community, industry and government come together,” Singh told the crowd. “Magic happens, and that’s what’s been happening in this facility for a long time.”
The center’s Aerospace Certificate Program offers 12-week courses in five aerospace specialties: assembly mechanic, tooling mechanic, manufacturing composites, electrical assembly and quality assurance.
“We have over 4,300 students that have gone through this program,” said the center’s executive director Larry Cluphf. “Ninety percent of those students we were able to track work in the manufacturing industry, and of those, 86% work for the aerospace sector.”
The Aerospace Training & Research Center graduates about 300 students each year. Boeing hires more than half. The area’s 150 aerospace suppliers snap up the remainder, Cluphf told The Daily Herald earlier this year.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, said the new lab “represents a bold commitment to developing and growing a highly skilled aerospace workforce.”
“Now students can get the best knowledge and hands-on training they need to build the safest and best airplanes in the world,” Larsen said.
The new lab will help Paine Field and the region maintain its reputation as a tip-top aerospace center, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said.
“We hear every day that our employers are having trouble finding skilled employees, and this center gives them the training they need to step right into jobs,” Somers said.
For more information about the Advanced Manufacturing Skills Center or to attend a free walk-in tour, go to amsc.edmonds.edu.
Janice Podsada: 425-339-3097; jpodsada@heraldnet.com;
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