SAMP News

This October, Pima County and the Southern Arizona Manufacturing Partners is proud to celebrate Manufacturing Month—a month-long recognition of the vital contributions that the manufacturing industry brings to our community. Throughout the entire month, we’ll be highlighting the innovation, dedication, and economic impact of Tucson’s thriving manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing Month is an opportunity to bring together manufacturers, educators, students, and community leaders to showcase the exciting world of modern manufacturing. Tucson’s manufacturing sector is thriving, and this day is all about recognizing the hard work, and dedication of the many professionals who contribute to this dynamic industry.

Highlights of Manufacturing Month:

• Manufacturing Month Proclamation: Pima County and City of Tucson will be proclaiming October as Tucson’s Manufacturing Month highlighting the importance of manufacturing in our region.
• Student Programs: We’re inspiring the next generation! Local schools will be visiting multiple SAMP member manufacturing facilities and Pima Community College Advanced Manufacturing facilities.
• Az Tech Council Business Expo: Connect with other professionals, share ideas, and explore potential collaborations. This year, the Business Expo will include a Manufacturing Pavilion.

For more information, please contact Kristen Bitgood at Kristen.bitgood@pima.gov.

by Cesar Gutierrez, 

Precision Manufacturing Teacher Desert View High School

TEACHING AT DESERT VIEW HIGH SCHOOL in this close-knit area of Tucson, Ariz. can be quite a challenge. Our student body is about 90 percent Hispanic, and in many households both parents have to work.

At our school, we have taken on the responsibility of creating a program strong enough to compete with the many distractions for the attention of teenagers. Our success can be reported in numbers; in our NIMS accredited program we have about 320 students attending the drafting and machining program, with engineering students bringing the precision manufacturing department total to more than 400.

Our goal is to develop skills in our students that will be appreciated by manufacturers, resulting in job offers, and by colleges and universities that will enroll our graduates in their manufacturing engineering programs. In this way, our students’ success will help them, their families and their communities. In addition to myself, our program has an engineering teacher and an aide. It takes a lot of outside support to help the three of us succeed in providing quality education within the classroom shop setting.

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At Pima JTED’s Program completion ceremony on May 17, 2019, the speaker, Bill Westcott, Executive Director of Potoff Private Philanthropy announced the $1 million pledge from local philanthropist Ross Potoff.  

Potoff’s life was transformed when he was in his teens and he credits the career and technical education with helping build his confidence and skills. Potoff recently retired from the University of Arizona College where he was a highly accomplished research specialist at the College of Optical Sciences. With this gift Potoff wants to ensure young people have the same opportunities to pursue a successful and rewarding career like the one he enjoyed for 40 years.

The gift could not come at a more perfect time, Pima JTED is building a new 50,000 square foot building to offer programs such as 3D Animation and Game Design, Robotics, Automation, Mechatronics, and Health Care programs including Licensed Nursing Assistant and Registered Medical Assistant.  Pima JTED’s long term plans include adding two additional buildings of the same size to the Innovative Learning Campus.

SAMP celebrated interns who participated in the 2017 cohort and completed the Machine Tool Technology/CNC Operator Certificate at Pima Community College. SAMP interns complete coursework at PCC while working at SAMP member companies. The practical application of the principals learned in class are put into immediate action at the manufacturing companies.

The following students successfully completed the program:

Ricardo Cornidez

Anthony Covarrubias

Jesus Equiha

Sergio Lizzaraga

Gabriel Molina

Dannie Mozingo

Ana Ochoa

Pauline Revilla

Alejandro Solis

Octavio Ruiz

The Sunnyside District was delighted to host Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and State Representative, Daniel Hernandez, Jr. on a tour of Desert View High School's iSTEM Academy on Friday, February 15. Desert View students led the tour which included visits to engineering classrooms, precision manufacturing workspaces, computer aided design classrooms, engineering workshops and precision measurement labs.

Governor Ducey’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget seeks $10 million in support of Career and Technical Education programs to expand Arizona’s competitive workforce and prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow.

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Raymundo Soto, a student in the drafting lab explains his proof of concept and answers questions from Governor Ducey.

The Arizona Technology Council awarded SAMP the 2018 Southern Arizona Manufacturer of the Year.  Donny Theriault accepted the award on behalf of SAMP and the Southern Arizona Tech + Business Expo.

SAMP was recognized for leadership in developing a program that has shown proven results connecting industry-certified education at the high school and college level with real work experience with local manufacturers. This model is the future for developing and mentoring the manufacturing workforce of the future.

  

Listen to Arizona 360's coverage of SAMP's Industry Summit, where educators toured a local manufacturer to understand the career path in manufacturing.

From the show

"There's a shortage of skilled machinists across the country. In Pima County, initiatives led by the Southern Arizona Manufacturing Partners attempt to fill those demands. Local manufacturers have partnered with the county to recruit high school students interested in trade and manufacturing jobs. Instead of reaching out to students directly, they are getting the word out to school counselors and teachers whom students often seek advice from about opportunities after graduation. Lorraine Rivera joined a group of counselors as they toured a company in Tucson that manufactures archery equipment.

Watch the video

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Creating, designing, and building. Inside Cesar Gutierrez's classroom are our future engineers.

"When I first saw these machines, I was terrified because they’re these big machines and I’m like, 'Oh my God. This is scary,'” junior Iridian Mong said.

Gutierrez is opening up a new world for students in the manufacturing program at Desert View High School.

"We can create your shoes. We can create a computer,” Mong said.

"They make that connection between real world and the actual theory behind math,” Gutierrez said.

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On January 11, 2017 SAMP members, students and teachers celebrated Desert View and Tucson Magnet High Schools and Pima Community College (PCC) receiving National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) accreditation for their Machining Programs.  

NIMS accreditation means that the curriculum students are taught meet national standards. NIMS sets skills standards for the industry, certifies individual skills against the standards and accredits training programs that meet NIMS quality requirements.  

This achievement wouldn't have been possible without the dedication of SAMP members and instructors Ray Wiggins and Chris Williams from Tucson Magnet and Cesar Gutierrez from Desert View High Schools, and Greg Wilson from PCC.

Watch the celebration video to learn more about NIMS accreditation.

The Southern Arizona Manufacturing Partnership, Pima Community College and Pima County One-Stop celebrated the graduation of four SAMP interns on December 14, 2016. 

Austin Bartel, Ernesto Moreno, Jonatan Ayala, and Elizaveta Packard successfully completed the Machine Tool Technology Certificate Program!

The interns successfully completed the internship program with SAMP manufacturers while attending Pima Community College. The program gave the interns a leg up on applying the information they learned in class on the manufacturing floor.

SAMP looks forward to the next graduating class in 2017!