CCAM receives $12.65 million in grants to build apprentice academy

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) has awarded Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM), Disputanta, Va., a grant of $3.15 million to build an apprentice academy in Prince George County, Va. This award is supplemented by an additional $9.5 million appropriated from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

CCAM established the Advanced Manufacturing Apprentice Academy to bolster the state's advanced manufacturing industry by creating a pipeline of workers with factory-ready skills and credentials. These grants allow CCAM to begin building the academy.

The academy's first three programs are machinery, welding, and mechatronics. Certification standards will be defined by NIMS for machinists and AWS for welders, and the NIMS and Siemens Mechatronics Systems Certification Program will define industrial maintenance mechanics (mechatronics).