CCCC adds evening option for Industrial Systems diploma due to high demand

SANFORD, N.C. — Maintenance mechanics and technicians keep industry humming at factories and other industrial sites by troubleshooting, diagnosing, and repairing machines and electrical and mechanical systems.

Demand is high, both from employers looking to fill these roles and from students seeking training from CCCC’s Industrial Systems Technology program. That is why CCCC is adding a new evening option for its three-semester Industrial Systems Technology diploma, with classes starting in August. 

This option will blend online learning with hands-on, in-person instruction designed for students balancing work, life and education. Classes will be held Monday through Thursday on CCCC’s Lee Main Campus in Sanford for four hours each evening. Students can attend full-time (four evenings per week) or part-time for as few as one evening per week. 

CCCC’s Industrial Systems Technology program prepares students for industrial maintenance careers by equipping them with skills from across a variety of trades — from welding to electrical work — as well as a broad foundation of knowledge for problem-solving. 

“The majority of my classes are geared to be hands-on the majority of the time,” said Industrial Technologies Instructor Scott Butcher. “You’ve got mechanical gears, you’ve got molten steel, electricity … It’s all fun.” 

The strong demand for the program comes amid the growth of manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries in the region. 

“Being a graduate of the program, I’m always going to be an advocate for it,” said Erik Bender, a maintenance manager at Pfizer’s Sanford site, who earned an associate degree from CCCC. “I feel like it’s opened so many doors for me.” 

On average, industrial machinery mechanics working in the Raleigh-Cary area or non-metropolitan central North Carolina make about $60,000 per year, or about $29 per hour, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Butcher, the CCCC Industrial Technologies Instructor, said he is seeing students, including many who are not long out of high school, hired for good wages in industrial settings after studying Industrial Systems Technology at CCCC. 

He said some of the local employers who hire the most Industrial Systems Technology students from CCCC include Coty, Bharat Forge, Tyson, Arauco, and Duke Energy.

Employers in need of graduates work to build connections with the students at the college. For example, Flowserve in Raleigh is hosting a field trip for members of Butcher’s Maintenance Practices class this spring. 

Recently, Butcher set a challenge in front of that group of students that involved building and analyzing electrical circuits using wires, bulbs, and other components. 

As the students worked to build their circuits, Butcher quizzed them aloud on concepts related to the activity. As the class progressed, more and more lightbulbs flickered on. 

Craig Dorsett, who lives in Sanford, is one of the students in the Maintenance Practices class this semester. 

Dorsett works in industrial maintenance at Coty Inc. and is pursuing a credential in Industrial Systems Maintenance to improve his skills and knowledge and excel at his work.

“They didn’t require it,” he said. “That’s what I wanted to do, to better myself.” 

Dorsett said he has enjoyed and appreciated how the program has deepened his knowledge of how all sorts of things work — like how electricity flows from a power plant through power lines to customers.

At his job, he’s been noticing how what he learns in his classes applies to what he is doing. The core courses and subjects he is studying, such as electrical work, welding, and maintenance practices, are key for his job title. 

“I want to get what matters,” he said. “This — right here — is really relevant.” 

For more information, or to apply to study Industrial Systems Technology at CCCC visit www.cccc.edu/ist. To learn more about the new evening option for Industrial Systems Technology, fill out an interest form at www.tinyurl.com/4vymapwb, or contact IST Department Chair Wesley Womack at wwomack@cccc.edu or (919) 718-7241.