The Metallurgy Program at Cerritos College was propelled into the future Wednesday, when a ribbon was cut opening the way into a 46-year-old lab that has been up-graded with new equipment estimated to have cost between $30,000 and $50,000.

The metallurgy lab, in room ME-2, which was originally opened in 1955, received the upgrades over the course of the past few months, and now has been elevated well above many other programs in the United States.

It also helps uphold the slogan that Cerritos College has become famous for “The most technologically advanced community college in the state.”

Present at the ribbon cutting ceremony were metallurgy instructors, staff, students, representatives of Buehler, the company that provided much of the new equipment, and members of the advisory committee.

Everyone in attendance was able to get an up close view of the new equipment, with the metallurgy instructors and Buehler representatives there to answer questions.

Cerritos College President, Dr. Jane Harmon and Buehler director of USA sales, Robert Driscoll, cut the ribbon together.

Some of the metallurgy students helped in the installation of the new equipment, and they were honored with certificates of appreciation.

Chuck Driesler, Richard Parton, Rick Pina, John Saragosa and Allan Westerholm were either influential in getting some of the needed materials, or helped in the actual installation of the new equipment.

What Buehler does is it manufactures equipment that is used to inspect metals. For example, it might inspect a small part that is going to be used on a bigger part that in turn will be used in an automobile or an airplane. Parton describes it as a “failure analysis” process.

In this inspection process, some of the equipment needed is grinder/polishing tables, polishing heads, abrasive cutters, precision sectioning saws and microprocessor controlled power heads. To use this equipment, counters and cabinets are needed, and all of these things have been installed in the new lab.

Part of the reason Buehler provided the equipment was so that when it is not being used by Cerritos students, he could send its own people to the lab for training.

According to Driscoll, Buehler will bring in instructors who, for example, might teach a quick two or three day course to its people that will not conflict with scheduled Cerritos classes.

“We were looking for a place where we could both help the program out and also be able to bring our people in and do very specialized metalagraphic courses during the course of the year,” Driscoll said.

Terry Price, department chairman of manufacturing technology at Cerritos College, said the Buehler company will be putting on national classes, which is something that has never been done on the west coast.

He added, “Cerritos is now going to be able to host some regional seminars for other companies and people who are interested in learning about this technology.”

Out of the 108 community colleges in the state, are only two programs that have technical labs like Cerritos’.

Price says, however, that the students are the ultimate winners because they’re actually working with the company.

“With this industry education partnership with the Buehler Company, it works out real well. It’s an opportunity for students to learn on brand new state of the art equipment that’s being used in industry today.

“[Buehler] will come out and help out with demonstrations and guest speakers, and actually use the lab equipment with the students.

“Also it’s good for the college because this is equipment it doesn’t normally have an opportunity [to receive funding for,]” Price said.

About 80 percent of the students in the program work in industry. They come to Cerritos to take courses that refresh their skills, and hopefully they get a raise in pay when they receive certificates.

The metallurgy program at Cerritos offers specialty certificates. They are obtained when a series of three to four classes are completed in a particular area, such as Welding Metallurgy Specialty or Metallurgy & Materials Science Specialty.

Westerholm, who received certificates in Laboratory Specialty and Welding Metallurgy Specialty, said that he has been trained in how to operate in a laboratory and how to operate the equipment. Taking metallurgy classes has given him an understanding of the principles behind the metal makeup.

He has been working in industry for the past 25 years, and he says he can now apply his newly acquired training to his job.

Driscoll said, “I’m very pleased to be here. [Cerritos has] a vibrant program and it’s great to be involved in it.”

“We will continue to work with Terry to make this a better and better program. It’s a long term commitment.” Driscoll said.