By Ryan Spoehr - October 19th 2023

 

JANESVILLE

Blackhawk Technical College broke ground on Wednesday on its Innovation Manufacturing Education Center, which is expected to be finished next summer or fall.

The facility, also known as “I-MEC,” will be about 52,000 square feet and an addition to what is now the current district office. The expected price tag is about $7-8 million after sale of the college’s Milton facility and a $250,000 donation.

I-MEC will allow the college to move all of its manufacturing courses to its central campus on County G between Janesville and Beloit and completely phase out having classes at its Milton site, which is now Kandu Industries after the college sold the building to the non-profit in May. The district expects to move all of its manufacturing classes to the central campus in the next year.

BTC President Tracy Pierner said at the groundbreaking ceremony that at the beginning of his seven-year tenure at the college, it was a priority to shrink the college’s footprint. At that time, the central campus was one of five campuses in Rock County.

“It was unsustainable,” Pierner said.

At the conclusion of the project, the college’s central campus will be its only site in Rock County. The college will still have its campus in Monroe in Green County.

I-MEC will house classes for automation systems technology, computer numeric control, electro-mechanical technology, industrial maintenance mechanic, manufacturing engineering technology, welding and manufacturing and HVAC-R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration.)

“It’s truly transformational for the college,” Pierner said.

The price of the facility was trimmed down slightly with a $250,000 donation toward the project from the Pregont family and the Prent Corporation. As a result, half the lab space, approximately 22,000 square feet, will be named after the family.

Prent Corporation Executive Vice President Rachel Pregont Andres called the $250,000 donation a “commitment” to manufacturing education.

“This new building is a testament to the college’s commitment in providing exceptional education for the next generation of workers,” Pregont Andres, also a Blackhawk District Board member, said. “It is within these walls the future workforce will be educated and empowered to lead the ever-evolving manufacturing industry.”

There has already been funding for programs within I-MEC coming from two grants. One, from the National Science Foundation, totals $345,000. It will specifically help out instructors launch the Advanced Technological Education in Manufacturing project, which is aimed to improve work-based learning opportunities and introduce innovative training methods to the region’s workforce.

The other one, from the Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation, is for $57,000. It is meant to increase the number of qualified manufacturing technicians through the implementation of a Manufacturing Automation Cell project, a collaboration in partnership with manufacturing company Scot Forge, which has a site in Clinton.

I-MEC is an addition to the college’s current district office on the east side of the central campus, which will be repurposed to accommodate the manufacturing center. The district office operations will be relocated elsewhere on campus.

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