LIFTIE SCHOOL: Sierra College and CSIA meet demand for trained lift-technicians
The courses grew out of Sierra Colleges’ mechatronics program, a four-semester course-load established in Spring 2006 at the community college located in Rocklin, Calif. Mechatronics is an interdisciplinary program that takes into account mechanics, pneumatics, hydraulics, electronics, and computer control, according to Sierra College professor Steve Hunter.
The program has already had extraordinary success. To get it off the ground, the state matched the $600,000 of industry donations. And on the day of a mechatronics class final in the spring, employers who had found out it was the last day of class came to the college and interrupted the final to conduct interviews. Employers hired every student that wanted a job in the industry.
Of the students that got jobs, some were placed at ski resorts, Hunter said. The ski industry learned about the program and sought to develop a partnership with the school. According to Lewis, the CSIA went to the college and said ‘this is our need, can you adapt it to ropeways?’ Sierra College professors visited nearby ski resorts and tailored the broad mechatronics program to the needs of the ski industry.
CSIA offered two different five day, 40-hour sessions in June and July. Hunter said the goals of the classes were to provide the foundations of mechatronics and to establish networking among lift technicians.
“…all of these resorts have similarly modified lifts and the participants in the course talk to their buddies, ‘We have this problem with this kind of lift. How do I fix it?’” Hunter said.
Next summer CSIA hopes to offer intermediate classes and advanced classes the following year.
“Up until now, most of the training was done on the job site, which is great because they learn about their specific lifts and how they need to operate. But there was a demand for a broader range of knowledge,” explained Kathy Hubbard, director of administration at CSIA. “This way the lift mechanics will know the whole system, and knowing how the whole system works will benefit how it functions in the long run.”
Hubbard attributed the demand for lift maintenance technicians to retirement and an absence of training. She said resorts realized they were going to lose a significant portion of the work force.
Hunter described the fulfillment of the CSIA courses, which, in conjunction with the Sierra College mechatronics program, have been a timely development for both the ski industry and technicians with the desire to work within it.
“At the end of the day when the students get jobs and the added value to the industry, and behind the scenes, the skier is safer and gets up the mountain quicker–that’s what we do,” he said.