Training the Next Generation in Automation — Featuring 20-year-old Emily Graven
Twenty-year-old Emily Graven started her internship here at Absolute Machine Tools when she was a 17-year-old junior in high school.
Emily was attending high school through our local vocational school, Lorain County Joint Vocational School, in Oberlin, Ohio. She was learning to program and operate CNC machine tools in the Precision Machine Technology program. Because Emily was such a good student, her instructor, Mr. John Green, recommended Emily for Absolute’s internship program.
Training in Automation: From Intern to Cobot Engineer
After Emily got her feet wet at Absolute Machine Tools, she began to take an in-depth look at our A+ Automation Team. She started by experimenting with our collaborative robots and then moved into more complex automation such as setting up automated machine tending using OB7 collaborative robots on our CNC mills and lathes.
At the start of her senior year, our automation team sat down with her and discussed opportunities for her to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree. After graduation, Emily worked with our own Dave Zunis, Director of Automation Engineering for Absolute’s A+ Automation Team, to plot a course of action to help Emily attain her career goals.
Mr. Zunis assisted her with enrolling in Lorain County Community College’s Smart Industrial Automated Systems Engineering Technology, Bachelor of Applied Science program. After only two years, Emily is now one of our most knowledgeable collaborative robot engineers and is responsible for assisting sales with Zoom demonstrations and training new customers.
Helping Shape the Pathway for Automation Training
How did Absolute Machine Tools know about the correct pathway for Emily to obtain her Bachelor of Applied Science degree?
The answer to that question lies within the fact that our very own Dave Zunis helped write the curriculum. Absolute Machine Tools has been providing automation solutions to their customers for many years.
Dave Zunis realized first-hand the dilemma in hiring talent for our own in-house A+ Automation Team, and together, with the help of area manufacturers and automation service providers, assisted Lorain County Community College to re-write their curriculum to fit the needs of today’s manufacturers.
The group plotted new pathways for students for properly training in robotics and automation engineering. Through the help of Absolute Machine Tools, Dave Zunis, and other area contributors, the newest and most technically advanced academic program in Smart Industrial Automated Systems Engineering Technology was launched.
Lorain County Community College’s Bachelor’s of Applied Science degree now truly fits the needs of today’s manufacturing industry and their never-ending search for smart, knowledgeable, and talented graduates to hit the floor running, immediately contributing to a company’s ROI.
What Is the Smart Industrial Automated Systems Engineering Technology, Bachelor of Applied Science Program?
Smart Industrial Automated Systems Engineering Technology represents a multidisciplinary engineering field concerned with the design, modeling, analysis and control of predominantly computer-based automated systems or processes, often referred to as smart manufacturing.
Automated systems typically contain a mixture of sensors, equipment, devices, software, hardware, and humans, and require knowledge of elements of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, software programming, networking, security, and human factors engineering. The program will be designed to meet the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology requirements and train students for job roles such as automation engineer, controls engineer, systems engineer, and more.
To see Dave and Emily’s Video, click here
