April 18, 2006

Cowley College class tours two area facilities

Student’s in the Industrial Materials and Processing course held at Cowley College’s Mulvane Center recently toured the Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita, and Kansas Castings in Belle Plaine.
Brett Butler, the course instructor, was pleased with the outcome of the tours.

“These were two totally different environments the students were able to get into,” Butler said. “This allowed them to see two different extremes of manufacturing in our area.”

The students toured Cessna’s major assembly plant in west Wichita on March 31, and got an opportunity to see all phases of its passenger jet assembly line.

“This let them see how much work goes into it from beginning to end,” Butler said.

On April 7, the students toured Kansas Castings and saw the multitude of parts the company makes for various companies.

The Industrial Materials and Processing class covers origin of materials and also the organizational structure of manufacturing.

“We have covered assembly, lean manufacturing, and casting and molding in the textbook, and now to get out and see it in person really tops off the curriculum to where they can see it taking place,” Butler said.

The students had an opportunity to speak with engineers, supervisors and employees about the working conditions at each place. The trips also allowed students a chance to gather contact information while they were on their visits.