Morris South partners with Southern Virginia Center of Manufacturing Excellence

(L-R) David Kenealy of SoVA CME and Kevin Wigington of Morris South are joined by Michael McDaniel, capital account manager, and Keith Wilson, VP of sales, Morris South.

Morris South, a division of Morris Group Inc., has formally partnered with the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center (SVHEC) and The SoVA Center of Manufacturing Excellence (SoVA CME), located in South Boston, Va., to support the advancement of manufacturing in Virginia and surrounding states.

Morris South, a machine tool distributor based in Charlotte, N.C., supplies new CNC machinery, tooling, accessories, automation, and software to users of metal cutting machinery in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and the Florida Panhandle.

SoVA CME was established in response to findings from a 2013 study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group. The consulting firm reported a need for advanced technical training to prepare southern and southwestern Virginia for advanced manufacturing jobs that exist today and will grow in the future. Danville Community College and Southside Virginia Community College are educational partners in SoVA CME; all three campuses will deliver foundational training in welding, precision machining, and industrial maintenance/mechatronics.

The initiative is funded by the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission, which ordered the study.

The partnership entails the supply of CNC machinery and a cross-training program for the programming, operation, maintenance, and servicing of machine tools. Morris South has installed an Okuma Genos L300-M turning center, an Okuma Genos M560-V vertical machining center, an Okuma HJ250E turning center, and a Bridgeport GX 1000 vertical machining center in the 8,700-sq.-ft. lab within SoVA CME. Other equipment in the precision machining lab includes a 5-axis CNC waterjet, manual machinist mills and lathes, 3- and 5-axis CNC routers, 3-D printers, reverse engineering laser scanning technology, and a variety of complementary machining stations.

In addition to the precision machining area, SoVA CME houses a multistation computer lab for CAD/CAE/CAM training equipped with Siemens' NX software and work areas for industrial maintenance or mechatronics training and welding.