Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The project, called the Southwestern Virginia Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center, will be based at the community college. It was proposed by the college's president, William Snyder, and is a joint project of Wytheville, New River, Mountain Empire, Southwest Virginia and Virginia Highlands community colleges.
Snyder said the center has hired John "Jay" Tice IV as its director, and should start delivering services next year.
Tice will begin his new duties Sept. 1. He was manager of science and technology issues for the Manufacturers' Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, a 60-year-old policy research institute representing 500 major manufacturers.
Boucher said the center "will offer advice, work force training and technical support to the more than 775 manufacturing firms situated in Southwest Virginia and in neighboring portions of the states of West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina."
He said the center will adapt the Extension Service concept - long used nationally in agriculture for colleges and universities to transfer information to farmers - to provide a similar service to manufacturers.
"It will also give students firsthand experience with the most technologically advanced manufacturing equipment that is commonly in use today," he said.
The project also will use a fiber-optic network now being built to link all community colleges and high schools in the region, allowing students to take courses emanating from Wytheville Community College at whatever school or community college they attend, he said.
Boucher said the Appalachian Regional Commission is awarding $265,000 to the center and the National Science Foundation, $197,873.
The commission money will buy, equip and staff a mobile training unit serving all the Southwest Virginia counties eligible for funding from the commission. The foundation funding will cover the costs of faculty members from the five community colleges developing courses in advanced manufacturing technology.
Previously, the Tennessee Valley Authority made a $400,000 grant to the project and the 1994 General Assembly approved $200,000 for it.
"The benefits to businesses are numerous," Boucher said. "Whether the center is assisting a furniture manufacturer in Galax, an electronics firm in Blacksburg or a mining equipment manufacturer in Tazewell, industries in Southwest Virginia will now have access to information in areas such as Total Quality Management, computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing."
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Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.