Northwest Technical College
Bemidji, Minnesota

Manufacturing Engineering Technology

The Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MET) program provides graduates with both readily marketable skills and highly transferable knowledge in the areas of applied engineering technology by bringing together technology from a wide range of manufacturing and related industries. The MET program was developed with the new global economy in mind as today's learners will need these cross-platform foundational skills which will allow them to integrate into the fast changing economy now and into the future. In addition to traditional technology, the need for making our world more efficient has never been greater, and with terms like "building green" and "sustained energy" becoming common language, the properly trained MET graduate will be in great demand as these new technologies evolve and become an integral part of all aspects of engineering technology.

The core curriculum has 5 emphasis areas as follows:

1. Management: Quality, Safety, Operations
2. Manufacturing Processes & Jig & Fixture Design
3. Electricity, electronics & automation systems
4. Hydraulics, pneumatics & mechanical power transmission systems
5. CAD / drafting & design technologies

The AAS degree in technology is a very upwardly mobile education that can be a "stand alone" degree putting you right to work or articulated into one of the many well respected "2 plus 2" bachelor degrees being offered at universities in Minnesota and abroad. It is common for the 2-year AAS technology graduate to pursue continuing college education after they have started their first job and it is customary for companies employing engineering technologists to pay for their continued education after they have become a valuable employee. The MET curriculum has been developed using guidelines provided by the National Center of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the National Association of Industrial Technologists, and input from many of our regional manufacturing businesses.

Employment

The program prepares learners to work as professionals in a broad range of technology careers including: product design, process design, safety and quality management, CAD, quality control, sales, industrial automation, research & development, distribution, technical writing, and others. These jobs are not being filled fast enough by qualified people and are in such high demand that most graduates will receive multiple job offers and be able to design their career path based on personal interests and what geographical region they would like to live. Graduate career paths often start with technical positions which quickly evolve into supervisory and mid-management.