OCTC Faculty Participate in Simulation Project for PPE

by Bernie Hale

Owensboro, KY (02/08/2021) — Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC) was one of five colleges in the state taking part in a mock disaster excercise to better prepare and assist the Commonwealth for a statewide or community crisis in the future.

The project focused on manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE), specifically, headbands for face shields, using 3D printers. The teams at each college had to download the specs, and implement the project, all while the clock was running, to simulate a crisis situation.

OCTC's President, Dr. Scott Williams commented, "We are excited to be a part of the project. This is a valuable experience for our faculty, which will directly benefit students and provide our graduates with an additional skill set."

OCTC's Gage Camron, instructor for the robotics and automation program, and Rich Hall, program coordinator for the engineering technology program, worked in conjunction with Tyler Ashton, OCTC's Workforce Solutions, director of external education programs, to complete the project.

Camron and Hall are new to OCTC. Camron is an OCTC alum who graduated from OCTC with two associate degrees. He is currently attending Western Kentucky University in pursuit of a master's degree. He grew up in the area and graduated from Daviess County High School. Most recently, Camron worked as an electrical maintenance technician and an engineering tech.

Hall holds a AS in Electrical Engineering Technology and a BS in Electronic Engineering Technology from West Virginia Institute of Technology and a MS in Information Systems from Marshall University.

His prior experience includes working for: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Verizon Communications, WVA Manufacturing and Constellium. His previous teaching experience includes serving as professor and program coordinator of Electrical Engineering Technology and chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department for Bridgevalley Community and Technical College in West Virginia. He fills the position previously held by Scott Hammonds who retired from OCTC in 2020 after 27 years.

The Rapid Response Additive Manufacturing Initiative (RRAMI) was developed by Somerset Community College (SCC), one of the 16 colleges in the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS), to test delivery of a statewide rapid 3D printing response capable of manufacturing critical supplies in the event of future emergencies.

The drill started at 7:30 a.m. Monday, February 1, 2021 when the partner colleges received the code designs for the face shield headbands. All five colleges ran continuously for 72 hours. The goal was to keep the 3-D printing machines running and make as many parts as possible in the 72 hour timeframe. The OCTC team produced 344 pieces with a 97.38% success rate.

Hall added, "Running these for 72 hours straight made for busy and long days but, overall, it was a huge success."

Camron and Hall plan to integrate similar projects into their technology courses and additional statewide trials are planned as part of the initial project. This fall OCTC will offer a new course, Introduction to 3D Printing and begin offering a 3D Printing Certificate.

"This course has been approved as a student Digital Literacy requirement and we are hoping many of our technology majors will take advantage of the opportunity to get experience working with this equipment," commented Hall.

All five colleges received the same code designs simultaneously and were given the same time frame for completion to get an good proximity of results in a real emergency. The colleges track the data, along with any technical issues or problems, and send the results to SCC.

The five KCTCS schools involved in the project included: OCTC, Madisonville Community College, Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College, Jefferson Community & Technical College, and SCC.

For more information about the manufacturing programs at OCTC please contact, Success Coach Ceary Thomas, at 270-686-4623, or via email at ceary.thomas@kctcs.edu.

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