The purpose of this grant is to provide funding to College of the Albemarle (COA) to purchase machining equipment utilized primarily in its Computer Integrated Machining and Computer Aided Drafting programs. This project will allow COA to train students and incumbent workers on the state-of-the-art machinery currently used in local industries. Training on this equipment is required for machining contractors engaged by the US Coast Guard. Hockmeyer Equipment Corporation, with manufacturing headquarters in Elizabeth City, recently announced an expansion of 90 employees. Hockmeyer has communicated to COA both the need for incumbent worker training and the eligibility of new workers trained on this equipment to be hired directly into higher-level machinist positions at the company. Golden LEAF funds will be used for the purchase of a CNC multi-tasking lathe and a coordinate measuring machine/laser scanner.
