JAMESTOWN — Jamestown Community College’s workforce readiness department is boosting training and programming at its Manufacturing Technology Institute facilities in Jamestown and Olean to support manufacturers in the region.

“Our MTI locations have the capacity to provide more training to address the workforce needs of the region’s manufacturers,” said Holger Ekanger, JCC’s vice president of workforce readiness. “As a result, we are relocating our workforce readiness team into the MTI facilities to provide improved training support to manufacturers.”

“We support JCC’s efforts to enhance MTI programming and technology offerings to align with manufacturers’ needs,” noted Rhonda Johnson, president of the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier. “As part of this transition, MAST will focus on the Dream It Do It program and build upon a shared service model with the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce and Chautauqua County Education Coalition.

“While we will continue to collaborate with JCC on various projects, we are moving MAST, Dream It Do It, and Chautauqua County Education Coalition personnel from the Jamestown MTI to the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce offices in downtown Jamestown and, eventually, downtown Dunkirk,” she added.

MTI, founded as a cooperative partnership between JCC and MAST, opened at the Jamestown Campus in 2003 to provide manufacturing technology training. Local industries made significant contributions to the development of the facility by contributing products, materials, technical support, and program assistance.

In the early 2000s, MTI introduced one of the first computer numeric controlled machines in the region that featured live tooling and introduced additive manufacturing (3D printing). JCC began overseeing training and programming at MTI in 2007 while MAST launched Dream It Do It to build stronger relationships with school districts by introducing middle and high school students to manufacturing.

JCC opened its MTI facility at the Cattaraugus County Campus in Olean in 2016.

“We appreciate the time and resources MAST and its members have contributed to the development of MTI,” JCC president Daniel DeMarte stated. “Programming and technology improvements to MTI have been possible through the efforts of JCC working closely with MAST members to maximize city, county, state, and federal resources.”