New mobile manufacturing lab helps Camden County College train job seekers

Camden County College unveiled a new mobile manufacturing training lab this week, part of a 10th anniversary celebration for the New Jersey Community College Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development.

The four-ton, 400-square-foot lab is the second that the college has bought using federal grant funding. Both allow the school to provide training, on demand, in advanced manufacturing.

The presentation of the new lab was part of a celebration of the consortium, founded in 2004 by the state's 19 community colleges. It has provided training to more than 100,000 employees at more than 5,400 businesses.

Its most popular program is the Basic Skills Workforce Training Program, which businesses can offer free to employees. Training areas include computer skills, mathematics and measurement, and Spanish for the workplace.

A training-on-demand program matches job seekers with businesses by training people for specific jobs, with companies agreeing to help screen and train potential job candidates. The trainees also go on tours at business sites.

The on-demand program includes the "Advanced Manufacturing Training Initiative," which includes the mobile manufacturing classrooms. Most trainees become nationally certified, and 90 percent of program graduates have been hired by more than 55 local manufacturers, according to the consortium.