Conestoga College gets manufacturing technology donation

Rotem Industrial Products, Toronto, recently presented the machine shop of Conestoga College, Kitchener, Ont., with about $5,000 worth of tooling for its Haas VF-2 mill.

The donation of the equipment came about following a meeting between two former employees of Ontario Drive and Gear, New Hamburg, Ont., Ed Das and Terry Leis. Leis, now a senior buyer at the Grand Hospital, was asked to dispose of some hospital machine shop equipment that had been purchased nine years ago, but which had barely been used.

Machine dealers were reluctant to purchase the mill because of the difficulty of removal (the mill had to be dismantled and reassembled by factory technicians on-site because it did not fit in the service elevator), so a donation to the college was seen as a win-win for everyone.

“I realized that this would be an excellent opportunity for both the hospital and the college to benefit and immediately contacted my friends and colleagues in the skilled trades department to see if they could find the means to remove the equipment quickly,” said Das.

Trade-Mark Industrial, Cambridge, Ont., put together a removal plan that could work financially for the college, and within the tight timeline required by the hospital.

Now having two CNC mills provides the [college’s] shop teachers greater flexibility when instructing new machinists,” said Das. “For example, if one CNC is down for repair, another will be available to fill in. If one machine is used to demonstrate a machining concept, the other machine could be used in tandem for hands-on setups without tearing down the other, allowing instructors to provide instruction more efficiently to the subsequent class.”

Rotem, a small, family-owned distributor of cutting tools and metalworking fluids, has a long history of supporting North American manufacturing.

“We contacted program coordinator Joe VandenEnden to see what tools in particular he needed, and through our distributorship of our main vendors, Ingersoll Cutting Tools, Allied Manufacturing and Engineering, and Master Chemical, we contributed a selection of cutting tools and metalworking fluid,” said Das.

While manual machines, commonly used in training facilities, are suitable for new students to learn how to employ cutting tools, industry increasingly requires trained and competent CNC machine setup operators and programmers.

“Using the same types of tools used in industry helps students understand the capabilities of the equipment and tools much better,” said Das. “We need to work harder to ensure that schools have state-of-the-art training facilities to attract students, but manufacturers also need to play a more active role in providing quality training to their employees and helping to promote skilled trades as a profession equal in status to other traditional career choices.”