January 9, 2003
INFORMATION: Sue Bozman or John McElwain, (661) 362-3415 or 3494
Classes Designed to Help Small Businesses
College of the Canyons Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) is gearing up for a busy year of assisting small businesses and individuals starting with a two-day seminar on February 5 and 6 that will help local companies understand the details of applying for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants. The SBIR program is a federally sponsored national program that provides more than $1.3 billion annually for companies to create innovative new products or methods in manufacturing, electronics, chemistry and biotech.
“In order to stay competitive, companies need to innovate,” said CACT Director, Peter Bellas, “but finding research dollars is difficult in today’s economy.” In the last three years, 83 companies in the tri-valley area (San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys) have received Phase 1 grants.
“Like most federal programs, the application process is complex and a little convoluted," Bellas said. "That’s why College of the Canyon’s has partnered with the City of Santa Clarita to sponsor the two-day seminar.”
The seminar is taught by Jim and Gail Greenwood, industry leaders in creating successful SBIR proposals, and is designed to help identify SBIR grants, create a competitive and complete application, and deal with budget requirements for these types of grants. The seminar costs $195 per person and includes a review by Greenwood Consultants of completed applications. The seminar will be held at the Santa Clarita Activity Center, adjacent to the Sports Complex.
The college also will be offering its fourth class in the Fundamentals of Materials and Operations Management for individuals working in a production environment. This is a semester-long class and is one of a series of classes resulting from a COC partnership with APICS, the Educational Society for Resource Management, and begins Feb. 12.
The class, “Fundamentals of Operations Management,” covers the design of systems to produce goods and services and the operation of those systems. It explores the relationships within the company environment, particularly with marketing and product design. Specific topics to be covered include facilities planning, total quality management (TQM), cost analysis, project planning, and operations resource management.
This is one in a series of classes intended to give professionals working in inventory management and control, as well as production planning and scheduling, a solid, practical educational background in these disciplines. Topics such as essential vocabulary, application of principles and concepts, strategic and tactical methods of implementation, and understanding the roles of different departments within an organization will be covered.
“The classroom format allows participants to ask questions, interact with peers, and learn from the experiences of others who are in similar work situations,” said Bellas.
Terry Willey, Materials Manager at Dayton Rogers of California, a company that produces precision metal parts said, “I took the position of Materials Manager with a certain amount of reservation since I had no formal training in the field.” After completing three of the four modules in the program, Willey says, “I now manage the materials function rather than just process requests. The courses,” said Willey, “have improved my understanding and communication with other internal departments, vendors and customers.”
The College of the Canyons CACT is funded by the California Community Colleges and provides seminars, workshops and advanced technology demonstrations to assist small to mid-sized manufacturers. “Our 2003 program offerings will help local companies access technology, resources and training classes that will result in greater productivity and improved company performance,” said Dena Maloney, Dean of Economic Development at COC. “By partnering with national experts, we can bring new ideas and resources to our community.”
Other classes to be held during the year include a one-day seminar in Supply Chain Management on March 20, and a half-day seminar called “Composites for Aerospace and Beyond” scheduled for April.
For more information on these classes, contact CACT at (661) 259-3874 or visit its Web site at http://www.canyons.edu/offices/cact/
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