News Article

College program ‘one of a kind’


6/28/2002 1:15:47 PM


College of the North Atlantic's Corner Brook campus received a donation of a Foxboro Distributed Control System from Atlantic Minerals on Friday, June 28. The unit, valued at over $100,000, will be used in the campus' new Manufacturing Operations Technology program and the existing Electronics Engineering Technology program. Taking part in the presentation were, from left, Bill Fitzpatrick, president of Atlantic Minerals, Lloyd Buglar, vice-president of operations for Atlantic Minerals, Greg Chaytor, chair of the School of Engineering and Information Technology for the college, and Darrell Meade, service representative for Foxboro and former graduate of the college.

June 28, 2002 - The Corner Brook campus of College of the North Atlantic (CNA) received state of the art equipment from Atlantic Minerals Limited for use in the college’s Manufacturing Operations Technology and Electronics Engineering Technology programs on Friday.

The Foxboro Distributed Control System (DCS) is the same industry standard automated control system used in all of the pulp and paper mills in the province and is valued at over $100,000.

This technology will raise the programs’ profile in Atlantic Canada, says Leyon Williams, Coordinator of the Trades and Technology programs for the campus.

“This processing suite is one of a kind,” says Williams.

“One of a kind, in that I believe it is the only fully operational DCS system working in an educational institution in Eastern Canada.”

The DCS system allows for computerized control of a processing plant while managing instantaneous manufacturing of its product. This training opportunity is invaluable, says Williams, for the college’s students, as well as industry stakeholders. The college is also expecting a donation of $200,000 worth of plant software that provides data for process simulation.

“This piece of equipment will add tremendously to the overall capability of the technology programs at the Corner Brook campus, with state-of-the-art training for our graduates and for our industry clients,” says Williams.

The presentation of the equipment is a partnership between Atlantic Minerals Limited, Foxboro Canada Limited, and CNA, to put in place an actual processing suite in support of the new Manufacturing Operations Technology program, along with the existing Electronics Engineering Technology program. One focuses on the use of the equipment, while the other concentrates on the set up and configuration.

The new Manufacturing Operations Technology program was created in direct response to industry needs. The three-year program, built on the platform of the Pulp and Paper Technology program, has been designed to train students to be operators of automated manufacturing processes for any industry which takes a raw material and turns it into a finished product, says John Edgar, Associate District Administrator at the Corner Brook campus.

“This could be pulp and paper, a mineral refinery or smelter, a pellet plant, an oil refinery – even a fish plant,” he says.

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Stephen Lee
Communications Manager
(709) 643-7928

or

Tanya Alexander
Public Information Officer
(709) 643-7928