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Robotics an image changer: Center will draw industry, robot manufacturer says
(The Decatur Daily (AL) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 21--MONTGOMERY -- David LaRussa is predicting that the Robotics Technology Park on U.S. 31 North will be a huge industry draw.
LaRussa's company built the robot that handed shovels to officials at a groundbreaking ceremony in front of Delphi earlier this month.
"Alabama has a reputation of being backwoods and slow. This will help change that," said LaRussa, regional sales manager in North and South America for Motoman Robotics Co.
Motoman is among 10 robotics companies supplying robotics equipment for the park.
Possible move to Decatur
And at least one executive supplying robotics equipment said the facility will likely prompt his company to locate a sales and service office near Decatur.
Harmut Boegel, vice president and general manager of Cloos Robotics North America, now works out of the German-based company's Chambourg, Ill., headquarters.
Boegel said the South's growing industrial base and the opportunities the research park offer are draws for Cloos, which makes robotic welding equipment.
He said his company believes that robotic welding equipment will fill the growing demand for welders as the pool of welders ages.
"Long term, we hope to locate a sales and service office not very far from Decatur," he said.
For people in -- or about to be in -- the job market as well as employers, robotics researchers and educators, the park's plans offer opportunity.
Motoman will put two to four robots at Phase 1, a working training facility for student and work force training. Its completion is due in 12 to 18 months.
"The state of Alabama is doing an excellent job in attracting this type of industry and designing programs to prepare workers," LaRussa said. "This can only help."
Other robotics suppliers who agreed to donate robotics equipment to the park said they are optimistic about the impact of the facility.
Huntsville-based AMTEC Corp. designs and makes simulation equipment for the military, including Redstone Arsenal and other government operations.
Major draw
AMTEC's Chris McCulley said for his company, which purchases robots, the biggest draw of the robotics park "is the people we can hire."
McCulley said the park will have a huge impact on the economy and industrial base in North Alabama.
"We'll be able to meet our work force needs," he said.
Ed Castile, the man behind Gov. Bob Riley's vision for a central robotics campus in North Alabama, is director of Alabama Industrial Development Training Institute.
As part of the state's two-year college system, AIDT already designs work force training programs and provides training for industry.
Castile's job now includes designing buildings and programs at the robotics park that will serve students, industry and robotics researchers into the future.
"All of them have customers in Alabama and around the Southeast," Castile said.
In a competitive market where manufacturers build equipment anywhere in the world, Castile said the facility will become "a great center for exposure to Alabama. If they come here, they will like it."
Castile said as part of Team Alabama, the state's work force recruiting arm, "I can safely say that we would go after them in a heartbeat."
Bruce Gawlowicz of Mitsu-bishi Electric Automation said he thinks the facility will bring industry across Alabama and other parts of the Southeast.
Why? Gawlowicz said for industry the attraction will be the center's combination of all types of robotics training available at any time in one location.
Efficient training
The availability of specialized training using the exact prototype of the equipment workers will use on the job will be a big draw, he said.
Mitsubishi makes unmanned airborne and ground vehicles called predators now in use in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq but also in forestry, traffic control and other operations.
Bob Settle is vice president of worldwide training and custo-mer satisfaction for Cognex, a Nadick, Mass., automation company. He said Cognex supplies automated robotic vision systems that pass cameras across products during assembly and allow machines to detect errors in the products.
Settle said his company's involvement in the robotics park came from the job training opportunities and versatility. Many workers will complete training with skills in different areas of robotics and be very marketable, he said.
Art Meadows is AIDT's equipment services coordinator for robotics and automation and an employee of Honda's Alabama automotive plant in Lincoln.
Meadows said the robotics center vision of high-tech curriculum combined with multiple robotics and automation vendors will draw companies there.
He said the park will be the first facility in the world to provide the array of education, work force training, industry demonstration sites and research in one site.
He said the plans for continuing support and training for businesses and corporations that use robotics are also attractions.
Castile said plans for the Phase 1 building are on schedule. Plans for Phases 2 and 3 of the park are under way.
"The dirt pushing and the big machines come in January," Castile said.
To see more of The Decatur Daily, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.decaturdaily.com
Copyright (c) 2008, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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