We are pleased to announce the official accreditation of the 21st Century CNC Training Program of the Tooling and Manufacturing Association (TMA) located in Arlington Heights, Illinois!  Officially accredited as of August 21, 2013, the staff and faculty at TMA have met NIMS standards and will continue to set the bar for exceptional metalworking training for apprenticeship and industry education in the state of Illinois.

To complete the accreditation requirements, an On-Site Evaluation took place at Fred W. Buhrke Training Center on August 14-15, 2013, which was conducted by veteran NIMS Evaluation Team Leader Joan Cook of RICOWI, Inc. in Clinton, Ohio.  Assisting Cook was Bryant Redd, CNC Instructor at Wilbur Wright College – another Illinois program that has been accredited since 2011.

A facility inspection occurred, as well as a host of in-depth interviews with apprentices, instructors and trainers, program managers and directors, advisory committee members, and local employers.  Following these events, the evaluation team gathered enough evidence to recommend accreditation, giving the program very high ratings in all evaluation areas including Program Purpose, Facilities, Equipment/Tooling/Measuring Devices, Program Features, Administration, Instructional Staff, and Advisory Committee.

In her final report Joan Cook commended the training program on not only its “well established relationship with industry,” but also “its potential for expansion to address industry’s ongoing training needs.”  Ultimately Cook stated that “the school has an excellent program, state of the art equipment, strong administration support, amazing industry support, and outstanding staff.”  Combined with high scores in all seven evaluation areas, these qualities make the 21st Century CNC Training Program a first-rate model for accreditation. 

This accreditation is in Level I Machining Skills, with an emphasis on:

• Measurement, Materials & Safety
• Job Planning, Benchwork, & Layout
• CNC Milling: Programming, Setup & Operations
• CNC Turning: Programming, Setup & Operations

Congratulations to everyone involved in this process, especially former Technical Coordinator Jack Krikorian and Director of Education Patrick Osborne for working actively to secure this accreditation!   Special thanks to the Evaluation Team members Joan Cook and Bryant Redd, without which this would not be possible!

To learn more about this program, click the link above or contact Patrick Osborne.

Looking for more on NIMS Accreditation?  Click the Accreditation tab at the top of this page or click here