Okuma America Partners with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College for New Machine Tool Training Academy

Leaders from Okuma and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College stand in the new Okuma Machine Tool Academy at the Rowan-Cabarrus ATC. Pictured left to right: Craig Lamb, VP of corporate and continuing education at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College; Tim Thiessen, VP of sales and marketing at Okuma; Natalie Rogers, training program manager at Okuma; and Dr. Carol Spalding, president at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. Photo Credit: Okuma America Corp., Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

Leadership teams from Okuma America Corp. (Charlotte, North Carolina), a CNC machine tools, controls and automation systems builder, and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (RCCC, Rowan-Cabarrus) announce a corporate training partnership between the two organizations.

The Okuma-Rowan-Cabarrus partnership will reportedly provide technical training to Okuma customers, distributors and employees at the new Okuma Machine Tool Academy (OMTA) located within the college’s Advanced Technology Center (ATC) on the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina (RGJ also recently consolidated its training facilities here for systematic injection molding, etc.). The Okuma Machine Tool Academy is expected to house several Okuma flagship products, including an Okuma LB3000 EX II horizontal lathe and an Okuma GENOS M460V-5AX five-axis vertical machining center. Courses are planned to commence in October 2021 and will be offered in three focus areas: electrical maintenance, mechanical maintenance and programming and operations. All courses will be led in-person by a full-time instructor, and online and hybrid course offerings will be made available in the future.

The state-of-the-art ATC opened its doors in 2019 and is more than 53,000 square feet in size. It provides various classrooms, collaboration spaces and lounges for program participants to utilize. The Okuma Machine Tool Academy, according to Okuma, was built specifically for industrial machine tool training and is equipped with overhead utilities and six-inch level concrete floors to support flexible machine layouts and configurations.

“Providing robust training and ongoing educational tools for our customers is one way that Okuma fulfills our mission of passionately pursuing a customer for life,” says Ira Busman, vice president of Customer Service at Okuma, expressing excitement about the program. “We are excited about the alliance with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and the modern tools and services they can provide at the new ATC facility.”

The Okuma Machine Tool Academy is located less than 30 minutes away from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and nearby various lodging, restaurant and entertainment options. Program participants also have the option to incorporate a visit to tour Okuma America Corp.’s headquarters, and to visit Welcome, North Carolina, to experience the campus of Okuma’s official NASCAR partner, Richard Childress Racing.

“Rowan-Cabarrus is thrilled to partner with Okuma to provide an outstanding location for the training academy at the college’s ATC located in Kannapolis,” says Rowan-Cabarrus President Dr. Carol Spalding. “By collaborating to offer these training opportunities, Okuma and Rowan-Cabarrus will be helping tomorrow’s professionals develop top-notch skills. We are excited to welcome future participants to the North Carolina Research Campus.”

Future updates about the training courses will be shared at okuma.com/training. For more information about this program, please contact Okuma's training program manager, Natalie Rogers, at nrogers@okuma.com or 704-504-6040.