Hexagon Joins Forces To Support Micro-Credential Certification Programs for Advanced Manufacturing
Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division has announced its industry-education partnership with Centennial College in Toronto, Canada to support their innovative micro-credential certification program. The college, in cooperation with Unifor and the Ministry of Labour, Training, and Skills Development, has offered skills-based training at no cost to the unemployed and underemployed labor force in the advanced manufacturing sector.
Micro-credential programs allow students to explore potential career paths and earn qualifications in a condensed timeframe as compared to a full-time collegiate curriculum. Centennial College offers specialized training in three specific career streams: advanced manufacturing and production, automation and industry 4.0, and quality control and assurance. Hexagon partnered with Centennial to support the Quality control and assurance stream, and fortified the program with resources from metrology equipment to educational assets for real world applications in measurement and inspection.
The intensive micro-credential program enables students to acquire skills and knowledge in-demand for Canadian manufacturing jobs. Over a period of 16 weeks, a student commits to ten hours of online and in-person learning per week, evenings and weekends. The immersive experience in the Quality stream develops work-ready graduates earning a certification from Centennial College, in addition to a certificate from Hexagon. Centennial educators are OEM certified to train students to perform quality checks on manufactured products utilizing Hexagon’s metrology portfolio – PC-DMIS and Q-DAS software, coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and portable articulating arms used for data acquisition and management, analysis, and reporting. Upon completion of the Quality stream, students also benefit from job search and placement services at the college. Earned micro-credentials are stackable, allowing students to earn a certificate of achievement upon conclusion of multiple programs.
“Centennial College is proud to offer our second round of micro-credentials in advanced manufacturing. Hexagon’s digital certificate is a valuable addition to our Quality Control & Assurance stream. Because of our close collaboration with world-class companies such as Hexagon Canada, our micro-credential program has seen graduates land great entry-level positions at industry-leading companies,” says Donald Wang, Chair, Advanced Manufacturing & Automation Technology, Centennial College.
Centennial’s micro-credential program has produced its first cohort of graduates, and Hexagon was among the first to hire from the Quality stream. Graduates Andrei Moreira, Abdullah Hussain, and Nathan Savoy have joined Hexagon for careers in application engineering. Graduate Nathan Savoy, now a Hexagon application engineer in the Montreal office, shares his path, “I researched the job market to gain an understanding of what skills I would need for a future in manufacturing. I had an interest in mechanical engineering, but I wanted an interactive learning environment as opposed to a long-term classroom setting. The Quality stream gave me hands-on access to metrology equipment in almost every single class. I was able to learn PC-DMIS software to program inspection routines online and offline for CMMs. The Centennial College micro-credential program enabled me to realize my personal career goals.”
“Working with higher education organizations like Centennial College is absolutely key to solving the critical workforce gap in manufacturing. For lifelong learners and people looking for a new or different line of work, these micro-credential streams enable people to develop sought-after skills in a very reasonable period of time,” states David Hill, Director of Commercial Operations – Canada, Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division.
“For decades, Hexagon has been developing industrial-strength, intensive training programs to get our customers quickly running on their metrology investments. We were very happy to support the development of the new Quality stream and add a second industry certification credential to the program. In addition, our prior work with Centennial culminated into two Quality Concepts courses for their Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering Technology advanced diploma program. In these classes, full-time students learn the fundamentals of quality assurance, inspection techniques, CMM operations and analytical software,” concluded Hill.
For more information: www.hexagonmi.com
