Electrical Controls and Maintenance

Program Features

Program History

Established in the late sixties as the Industrial Instrumentation program, we have over forty years of experience providing “a high quality education resulting in rewarding employment” for our students as well as providing a skilled workforce for local employers.

With curriculum centered around the mechanical, pneumatic and analog electronic control equipment of that era the Industrial Instrumentation program’s initial mission was to train this area’s early technicians working in the mining, pulp and paper, and power generation industries. Over the years it grew and evolved along with the advancements in technology and emerging needs in industry.

In 1984, a second option was added to the original Industrial Instrumentation offering called Automation Systems Maintenance. Designed to offer curriculum directed more towards the manufacturing industry, the ASM program ran as a second year option in parallel with the Industrial Instrumentation program until 1995 when the two programs were combined into one offering called Automated Control Technologies.

In the fall of 2001 the process of making major revisions to our curriculum was started and was completed in May of 2003. Along with significant change in curriculum and assumed its fourth name, the Process Automation Systems program, to take effect for fall 2012.

While this program has seen many changes over the years one thing remains the same, our commitment to providing the best education possible in the field of automation and controls.

What to Expect

The first semester of the program focuses on the fundamentals of electrical/electronic theory in lecture and practical applications performed in lab exercises. The second semester of the program teaches the basics of industrial control, including motor control, instrumentation/process control, programmable logic controllers, and the national electrical code. In the second year of the program, lecture-based lab work builds on the basics with additional technology continually being introduced.