Burlington County College, Parts Life, Inc. and Freeholder Director Bruce Garganio unveiled a new 3-D printer donated to the college on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
“A growing number of businesses are using 3-D printers and Burlington County College will soon offer instruction on this very relevant and state-of-the-art technology,” BCC Interim President Dr. David Spang said. “Parts Life’s generous donation will help provide modern training to workers and support students in a number of disciplines at the college. We appreciate Parts Life’s generosity and support of high-quality education in Burlington County.”
Dr. Spang, Parts Life, Inc. President and CEO Sam Thevanayagam and Freeholder Director Bruce Garganio ceremonially cut the ribbon Wednesday at a lab in the TEC Building at BCC’s Mount Laurel campus.
“Our Burlington County Workforce Development Initiative is designed to better align the job training and education of today with the business needs of tomorrow,” Freeholder Director Garganio said. “Partnerships like the one between Parts Life, Inc. and BCC are perfect examples of how smart connections can lead to better career paths in Burlington County.”
Sam Thevanayagam, President and CEO of Parts Life, Inc., whose outstanding career began with a community college education, noted the demand that businesses have for skilled workers with 3-D printing expertise.
“The demand for skilled workers in the manufacturing market place continues to be a challenge in this state and throughout the country. Additive manufacturing will begin to be used throughout the industry and a qualified workforce with 3-D printing experience will be critical. Parts Life, Inc. sees this as not only a donation to Burlington County College but also as an investment in our young people. The goal is to ensure that the state of New Jersey remains a strong manufacturing resource for this nation.”
That demand, coupled with the Parts Life, Inc. donation, prompted the college to design a workforce development course within the Corporate College that will begin this spring.
“What will set our course apart from others is a focus on the highly-technical skill of the scanning that goes into designing items before they are printed,” said BCC Physics Lecturer Greg Perugini, who sought a 3-D printer for use in BCC’s growing Undergraduate Research Program. “The printer will also be a great benefit for students in our engineering, physics and astronomy programs as another state-of-the-art learning tool to support our rigorous academic programs.”
BCC Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Executive Director of the BCC Foundation, Rebecca Corbin, thanked Parts Life, Inc. for the generous donation and commended the example it set.
“There are many ways civic-minded companies can support student learning at Burlington County College, from funding scholarships that keep college affordable to providing the equipment necessary to help students learn,” Corbin said. “We are very thankful that Parts Life, Inc. was willing to make this generous contribution to our students and we hope it inspires other creative and innovative ways for the community to support the college.”
For additional photos from the press conference, please visit BCC’s Flickr Account.
