ASCC has award-winning paper, chemical program

As one of the nation’s leading training centers for paper and chemical industry technicians,

Alabama Southern Community College (ASCC) offers students the opportunity to earn a degree

in Paper and Chemical Technology in a world-class educational facility. State-of-the-art labs,

recognized by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the Advanced Technological Education

National Center for Pulp and Paper Technology Training prepare students to enter the job market

ready to succeed at some of the best and highest paid jobs in our area and in the nation. Located

on the Thomasville Campus, this program leads to an Associate in Applied Science degree in two

years.

Technological control of basic unit processes in the pulp, paper and chemical industries

continually change. No longer can workers in these industries just learn their part of the process

or which button to push, but must have a whole mill outlook and have clear understanding of

how their part of the process integrates into producing quality products to meet the standards of

international markets. The technician/operator of today’s industrial plants must be able to

troubleshoot and diagnose processes, as well as mechanical and instrumentation systems.

However according to the Skills USA website, 600,000 skilled jobs are going unfilled in the US

today. 83% of companies report a moderate to serious shortage of skilled workers with 69%

expecting the shortage to grow worse in the next 3-5 years. Among all US employers, the most

difficult jobs to fill are the technicians, skilled trade workers, production operators, and laborers.

To help regional and national pulp, paper and chemical process industries find and develop

workers for these critically needed technician operator jobs, NSF funded the National Network

for Pulp and Paper Technology Training (NPT2) which has developed on-campus and online

training strategies for those seeking employment in these industries and to assist workers

currently in the industries to gain the knowledge and skills to keep their facilities competitive.

Historically, over 85% of graduates locate jobs. They receive a solid foundation in the classroom,

and receive practical, hands-on experience in some of the nation’s most modern industrial

training labs. The Paper and Chemical Technology program includes exposure to real-life

industry settings, and top students can participate in available internships at area production

facilities. The Paper and Chemical Technology program at ASCC began as a partnership among

Ciba (now BASF), the PACE Local 3-562 union and the college. The partnership has since

expanded to include the participation of Auburn University, the Alabama Technology Network,

and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Alabama Southern’s Paper and Chemical

Technology degree program was designed with the help of local paper and chemical industries

through their regional industry alliance. The Alabama Southern Industry Alliance broke new

ground in job training by including industry, labor, community and education leaders who joined

forces to design this degree program creating a world-class workforce for industries in Southwest

Alabama. The program has become a model for other programs across the nation. This Industrial

Alliance yearly reviews the curriculum for relevance and provides paid internships for hands-on

experience in actual mill environments. Program graduates obtain an associate of applied science

degree which is today’s minimum standard globally for the pulp and paper industry. New

workers coming into the mills with these fundamental skills can gain quicker knowledge of the

production units which are familiar to them while keeping high quality of products at the

forefront of the production process. Students in the internship program say having this

experience in industry helps them connect what they've learned in the classroom with real

applications and assists in acquiring jobs after graduation. The mills who host the students get to

pre-screen potential employees and determine is the students have the aptitude for mill shift

work.

Alabama Southern’s cutting-edge labs put students into an environment simulating an operating

chemical plant controlled from a distributed computer control room (DCS system). This design

models full-scale industrial operations in chemical plants and paper mills. NSF helped fund the

lab through the grant, and Auburn University helped develop safe processes to run in the lab pilot

facilities that do not involve hazardous materials for training applications. Various plants within

the lab operate as units, giving students experience in industrial safety practices, team

coordination, communication skills, process equipment operation, and troubleshooting

techniques simulating the workplace. Eight pilot modules and lab activities were developed

under the grant and are implemented into the curriculum for the associate degree program. A

process control plant, trains students on pressure, flow, temperature and level using single loop

control systems. A crystallization plant, a heated-batch reactor, a demineralized water treatment

plant, a waste treatment and gas fired boiler plant make the lab like a typical industrial site with

various areas of unit operations. Students work in teams to operate these plants communicating

by walkie-talkie and operating some lab trainers through a DCS computer system located in the

control room. Pulp and paper manufacturing processes are studied and practiced in the lab from

the chip screening process continuing through to the cooking process to making pulp, bleaching

pulp and testing handsheets of paper.

Recently the program has been developing more online courses to offer the same technically

advanced training to those who currently work in another industry, or are not located in

southwest Alabama, or who even work in the mills and want to upgrade their skills. While these

online students will not be able to utilize the on-campus state-of-the-art labs in Thomasville,

online videos of labs are available as well as presentations from subject matter experts from

around the country. Under the national center grant, ASCC went to subject matter experts

(SMEs) instructors from research institutions and suppliers in industry to ask for assistance in

developing videos and PowerPoints for the ASCC online program. This library of visuals

includes the most up-to date technology used in these industries today. On-campus students as

well as incumbent workers in mills can have access to this vast training forum delivered through

ASCC’s online learning management system, Eagle’s Web. Material in the videos are

periodically reviewed by SME’s to keep content up to date. Mills are also invited to provide

input for these updates and can use the material to supplement in-house training. This unique

feature keeps the value of the courses and the skills learned viable into the future as the

technology changes. Pratt Industries, a company with recycle linerboard mills in Georgia,

Louisiana, Indiana and New York, is one company who has taken advantage of these online

course options to update incumbent worker knowledge and skills. The students, who work

shifts, complete the coursework on their off time. The training manager has commented that

“Alabama Southern Community College has provided Pratt Industries a great opportunity

for our employees with an online source for a formal papermaking education. ASCC

developed a series of comprehensive courses that are well structured and apply to the

papermaking processes our employees understand and utilize daily. This has helped us to

grow our bench strength and provide growth opportunities for our workforce. Classes are

engaging and instructors provide feedback along with encouragement to help our

employees maintain positive focus on reaching their personal goals in their education.

As the training manager for Pratt Industries, I can say that ASCC is leading the way for

the paper industry by not only providing its campus students with an education and a

career; but also taking the lead on providing an online resource for our fulltime

employees to complement their working experiences with a formal education.”, Artie

Louszko- Mill Training Instructor, Pratt Industries USA

This online training program is available nationwide to industries that are interested.

Another outreach of the program has looked at different raw materials to make paper that would

utilize invasive species in the South such as Kudzu and Bamboo. This project which grew out of

a Summer Entrepreneurial Internship Program (EIP) program sponsored by the University of

Alabama (UA) and Alabama EBSCoR included faculty from the UA Chemistry and Textile

Departments as advisors. The EIP program was developed to train students in emerging

technologies and processes, and to utilize local and natural resources to manufacture sustainable

marketable products in the Black Belt region of Alabama. The kudzu and bamboo were

collected, chopped and pulped in the ASCC labs by the middle and high school students from

Greensboro, AL who were participants in the summer EIP program. The resulting paper made

from the kudzu and bamboo pulp was tested and the outcomes of the work were presented to

regional business owners for ideas on product viability as well at a national TAPPI (Technical

Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry) conference in Atlanta, GA.

Alabama Southern’s Industry Alliance has helped build a workforce development program that is

recognized as one of the nation's best. The American Chemical Society has described the

program as “a workforce development model for the nation”, and that's just one of the reasons

why ASCC is building a brighter future for all of Southwest Alabama. BASF, Alabama River

Cellulose and Olin are committing scholarships, internships and jobs to the Paper and Chemical

Technology students of Alabama Southern Community College. Students interested in these

scholarships may pick up an application in the Student Development Office on the Monroeville

or Thomasville campus. Scholarships are limited, and applications must be received by Feb. 1st.

Applications are evaluated in the order in which they are received. For more information contact

the Financial Aid Office at 251-575-8256 or 334-637-3168. Requirements for admission into the

program are: a high school diploma or GED; completion of an Alabama Southern admissions

application, submission of official transcripts of all previous academic work; and taking the

Asset/Compass Placement Test for placement in English and Math. For more information,

contact Christie Prout on the Thomasville Campus at 334-637-3154 or cprout@ascc.edu.

Suggested photos attached:

Students in the control room are preparing to operate a process plants from DCS control systems.

Students operate the heated batch reactor plant from the DCS screen in the control room.

Students run a deionized water system to produce clean water for use in the 15 psi steam boiler

and other process plants run in the lab.

Students pulp screened chips in lab digesters. Pulp is then put in repulper, with subsequent

screening and washing to be turned into handsheets of paper for testing.

Students run Process Control Plant A to learn about flow, level, temperature, and pressure control

of production processes.

Kudzu paper that has been sent through the ink jet printer.

Kudzu loaded in lab digester before cooking and pulping.