February 3, 2025 • 18 mins
Question: How do you move an active training program with massive, sophisticated equipment into a new facility without halting progress?
Answer: An abundance of planning—and the determination to make it happen.
In this episode, Senior Facilities Manager Stewart East and Assistant Director of Advanced Training and Operations Wesley Cifers explain:
- Preparation: Months of logistical strategizing for a multi-phase relocation
- Execution: Coordinating staff, resources, and external partners over the holidays
- Outcome: A smoother transition to the ATDM Maritime Training Center, where the Accelerated Training and Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) program now has a permanent home
Episode highlights include:
• Transition to a significant new facility after years in a temporary space
• Overview of the Accelerated Training and Defense Manufacturing program
• Importance of modern labs and dedicated training spaces
• Planning and executing a complex multi-phase move
• Coordination with internal staff and external partners
• Growth goals of expanding student enrollment
• Enhancements in the learning environment and student experience
• Recognition of community and team support during the move
The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research serves as a regional catalyst for economic transformation in Southern Virginia. Our services, programs and offerings are diverse, impactful and far reaching.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Caleb Ayers (00:09):
Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR.
Thanks for joining us.
Today we're going to do a funsort of behind-the-scenes tour
of kind of what it's like tobasically move into a new
building for one of our majorprograms.
So recently the Navy's NationalTraining Center opened on our
campus.
That is the new home of theAccelerated Training and Defense
(00:31):
Manufacturing Program.
This building is a 100,000square foot facility with more
that's still being added to it.
But basically we've had theATDM program sort of in a
temporary space on our campusand we're now transitioning that
to this new building, theNavy's National Training Center.
So here to talk about kind ofwhat the move was like and how
(00:53):
do you plan a move into a100,000-square-foot building.
And with all these, you knowvery technical programs and an
ongoing program.
You know how do you plan allthat.
An ongoing program.
You know how do you plan allthat.
We have Stuart East who's oursenior facilities manager, and
we also have Wesley Cypherswho's the assistant director of
advanced training and operationsin our manufacturing
(01:13):
advancement division.
So I'm excited to talk behindthe scenes of what it's like to
get this new building up andrunning.
So thank you guys for beinghere.
Yeah, thanks, caleb.
Thank you for having us.
For those who don't know, atdmAccelerated Training and Defense
Manufacturing Wesley can yougive us kind of a very brief
rundown?
Most of our listeners wouldhave a general idea, but can you
(01:33):
give a brief rundown of whatATDM is?
Wesley Cifers (01:36):
Sure.
So it's a 16-week trainingprogram.
It's accelerated in nature.
We train in five differentareas.
We have additive manufacturing,CNC machining, metrology or
quality assurance,non-destructive testing and
welding.
So essentially a student wouldpick a track.
They would spend full fourmonths in that track.
Training is five days a week,40 hours a week.
(01:57):
In our training programs wehave a six to one ratio, so each
class we have 12 students andwe have an instructor and a
technician.
Something else that makes ATDMspecial is having a one to one
equipment student ratio.
Our CNC machining program andwelding reflect that.
(02:19):
Nice have 24 pieces ofequipment at all times for two
classes to operate side by sideacross three shifts.
Caleb Ayers (02:23):
So at any given time you're saying in CNC
machining and welding, there's24 students in there and 24
pieces of equipment.
That's 24 hours a day, fivedays a week, correct, that's
yeah, that's, that's awesomeWith this new building.
I know it's 100,000 square feet.
I've seen a little bit of theinside, but tell us a little bit
about.
You know sort of what are thelabs like?
What is this new facilityequipped for?
Wesley Cifers (02:45):
The new facility.
It's much larger than ourtemporary facilities that we
were in.
We still had 24 pieces ofequipment for CNC, for example.
This new building, our CNC lab,is approximately 11,000 square
foot, so we have a lot more room.
Cnc would have a dedicatedmetrology lab inside of it for
students to practice measuringskills.
(03:06):
We also have the ability to addsome additional equipment in
and new capabilities.
Our metrology program.
We were able to purchase 12CMMs for students to use, so
metrology will go to aone-to-one ratio as well for
students to be able to utilizethat equipment.
It's pretty unique.
Ndt and additive programs wewere able to add some additional
equipment in there as well forstudents to be able to utilize
that equipment.
It's pretty unique.
Ndt and additive programs wewere able to add some additional
(03:27):
equipment in there as well.
And also, yeah, our NDTprograms.
Today they were using twoclassrooms in current facility.
They have two very large labsnow to utilize.
Caleb Ayers (03:39):
We can actually fit 24 students in each of those
labs and we'll get to this somelater too, but it sounds like
this facility was made with theidea that there's room to grow
in it, that it's not just theamount of students that are
coming now, but that this couldbe scaled up even more.
Wesley Cifers (03:52):
So we started ATDM in 2021.
The first class had a littleover 30 students that we
graduated.
Fast forward to today.
We have about 500 students, alittle more, coming through each
year.
Our goal is to get to 800 to1,000 students per year and this
new facility will allow us todo that, Having the additional
space, being able to addadditional shifts with extra
(04:14):
equipment and so forth.
Caleb Ayers (04:15):
It's cool to see you know, because I know the
temporary space that we had setup for this program was tight.
You know you said the new labis 11,000 square feet for CNC
Going in the old one.
Stewart East (04:27):
That was not 11,000 square feet, the old lab
was about half that and we wereliterally squeezed in like
sardine cans and we were verylucky to have that space to
start out with and move thisprogram forward without needing
to wait for this building to beconstructed.
That is the key to rememberabout all of this is we were
(04:48):
able to immediately start thisprogram while the building was
under construction and we had atight 18-month deadline that we
had set for ourselves to movethis program over to the
building, and we were able toaccomplish that.
It was tough, I mean, we had tomake sacrifices.
Everybody did and one of theother things you were talking
(05:11):
about, caleb, is the 100,000square foot that the building
will eventually be.
And that's a key here is, inorder to meet that 18-month
deadline that we set forourselves, our architectural
partners decided to build thebuilding in two different phases
.
So right now, building one,which really houses all of our
(05:32):
equipment, is about 70,000square feet, so that is the one
that's coming up on completionvery shortly.
The second building, which wecall building two, will be about
30,000 square feet and thatwill house most of the staff and
student services and studentlounge.
Caleb Ayers (05:53):
So that's an interesting thing you're talking
about and this was something Iwanted to get into that idea
that this move was not all atonce, and I know that some of
the parts of the program havealready moved over, like welding
and CNC machining, and otherswill move over in March.
So tell us a little bit aboutkind of how did you all go about
(06:13):
figuring out how to schedulethis move, how to plan this?
What was that process like ofplanning all of this move and
figuring out those phases?
Stewart East (06:23):
Right, so about 18 months ago when we started
designing this or finisheddesign of this move and figuring
out those phases.
Right so about 18 months agowhen we started designing this
or finished design of thisbuilding and decided, you know,
went into construction.
We did have that plan.
You know, at that 18-month markthat we would try to be moving
some of our classes in here Froma training standpoint.
Wesley Cifers (06:37):
We had to look at our schedule of classes.
That was difficult 16 to 18different classes.
We're starting cohorts up everytwo months, so trying to plan
when we had the most downtimewith the least effect on
training to move this equipmentover.
So we found a time right beforeChristmas.
We also looked at in ourdifferent programs we offer
(06:58):
certifications.
They would kind of be like yourend of term exams, if you will.
So leading up to that, it's acouple of weeks we would spend
in the classroom, more so thanon the machines, going over
different methods, proceduresand then going through the
certification process.
So throughout that, dependingon the area, they don't need
equipment as much.
So that was a good time forcertain areas to move over the
(07:21):
rest.
We just had to work with theinstructional team and shift
around their schedule, some forhow they plan training.
Leading up to it, we scheduledriggers, and I'll let Stuart
touch a little bit more on that,but it was all hands on deck
for two to three weeks to geteveryone to help out moving
small equipment over.
While the riggers were movingour large equipment, we had
(07:45):
quite a bit of tools,consumables and different things
that we had to move over andalso we had to schedule our
external partners who work onsome of our equipment and who we
dealt with for quite a bit.
They came in right behind ourriggers and started setting the
equipment up.
So it was nonstop for, I wouldsay, six weeks or so throughout
(08:05):
that move.
Stewart East (08:06):
Yeah, like Wesley said, we started about eight
months ago really planning whenwe would move the equipment over
and at that point we startedgetting partners on board.
Like you said, that includedriggers, electricians, people
like that that would move,actually physically move the
equipment over the tightdeadline.
(08:26):
We had people like that thatwould move, actually physically
move the equipment over thetight deadline we had.
Like Wesley mentioned, we onlyhad about a week to actually
move this equipment, so we hadevery single hour of every day
planned out and, of course, whenit came time to make all that
happen, we basically justscrapped it all and just made it
happen during that week.
Caleb Ayers (08:44):
This was the week right before the Christmas break
when our campus was closed.
Stewart East (08:47):
That's correct.
Caleb Ayers (08:48):
So that was the deadline you're up against, yeah
.
Stewart East (08:50):
So we had kind of two days scheduled, the first
part of the week to unhookequipment, have one of our
partners come in and put theshipping brackets on the actual
CNC machines.
Once we got that put in place,the next two days we're
physically moving the CNCmachines over, and again it was
(09:10):
24 of those, so that took sometime.
Caleb Ayers (09:13):
Ballpark.
What do those weigh?
Just curious.
Stewart East (09:15):
A little over 10,000 pounds apiece.
So they would load three ofthem on a tractor trailer and
secure them down and take thoseover.
While they were setting thosein the building, they would have
another tractor traileractually loading another set on
and just flip-flop all day long.
As one hit the ground, we wouldhave our other partners, our
(09:39):
electricians, come in and theywere actually wiring the
equipment as soon as one hit theground and also we were running
compressed air to thosemachines as well.
Once they got on the ground, wehad our other partners come
back, take those shippingbrackets off of the machines and
they would level them and dotheir magic where they, you know
(09:59):
, get them back to where thestudents could actually use them
sounds like a pretty smoothprocess.
Caleb Ayers (10:05):
You guys figured out here.
I mean it worked.
Stewart East (10:07):
but you know, like I said, all of our plans that
we had kind of made.
We just kind of had to wing itthere in the end and just make
it all work and we had a lot ofinternal support here at the
Institute.
Lots of Institute employeesplayed a hand in this.
Wesley and I are here doingthis podcast, but there's a lot
(10:29):
of people that we need to thankfor their support, absolutely.
Wesley Cifers (10:34):
And Stuart kind of hit the nail on the head ATDM
since day one is just get itdone.
I can't say that everything hasgone to plan, but we have a
team of go-getters and it alwaysgoes through Things in life
generally do not go according toplan, so that ability to get it
done anyway, that's.
Stewart East (10:50):
That's right.
That's the key to the wholething is we were able to make it
happen and we can say thatwe've got students in the
building today doing training.
Caleb Ayers (10:58):
Welding, cnc machining and metrology students
are already in the new building.
I know we had a new cohortstart a few weeks after
Christmas, in January, and thenit'll be additive and
non-destructive testing.
They move over in for March.
Is that correct?
Maybe the last few weeks ofMarch and I mean you guys have
talked about things not goingaccording to schedule but in
(11:19):
both in the planning and then inthe actual execution.
What were some of thechallenges that came up and how
did you guys?
How did you guys working withother?
Obviously, stuart, youmentioned there's a lot of
partners involved outside ofIALR as well.
How did you all figure out howto overcome those challenges?
Stewart East (11:34):
Yeah, coordinating between partners is probably
the most difficult piece andwhile I say that, really the
tight schedule and deadline wasthe hardest part, but just
having, you know, a hundreddifferent people involved in the
move to make it happen soquickly.
You know, if we had six monthsto do this it wouldn't have been
a big deal at all, but we weretrying to do it all in a week
(11:56):
and we made it happen.
Wesley Cifers (11:58):
And that's.
It's not much exaggeration.
A hundred sounds insane butwhen you look at you know
partners around equipment,rigging, software, everything.
It's a lot of people that haveto coordinate and come together
to make it all happen.
Who's the point person for thismove?
I'm going to say we have a fewpoint people.
Stewart is definitely the mainpoint as far as facilities.
(12:21):
From my end it was the training, logistics and equipment.
Chad Roach also had a majorpart in more so, supervising the
crews over there and makingsure everything went as planned.
Caleb Ayers (12:33):
Also, coordination of everything you know as we
mentioned, those three parts ofthe program are already moved
over there, and then additivemanufacturing, non-destructive
testing, will move over in March.
Talk about sort of why that isand kind of what's the plan for
obviously we've got another movecoming up, so what's the plans
for that?
Wesley Cifers (12:50):
Yeah, one of the biggest reasons for that was
simply just not movingeverything at one time.
We also have a good amount ofequipment and additive that has
to come over equipment andadditive that has to come over
NDT.
We're purchasing some newequipment and really
logistically it made more senseto hold those two off.
We had one class that was stillhere.
Again, we're starting upcohorts every two months, so one
(13:13):
will graduate and the existingcohort that's still there would
have two more months and it's aconstant cycle.
So it made more sense for thosetwo classes to continue on
until March.
We'll have a little bit ofdowntime there in between
cohorts for them where we canmove students and what equipment
we have over at that time andthat one won't be pushed up
against a Christmas break whereeveryone's about to leave,
(13:34):
correct?
Stewart East (13:35):
But it will be pushed up against the next
cohort starting, which is almostthe same thing.
Wesley Cifers (13:40):
Yeah, it's definitely still a time crunch,
but I see it going smoother,just for the nature of we're not
going against the buildingdeadlines and everything else
all at the same time andholidays.
Stewart East (13:53):
Yeah, we don't have construction going on
literally at the same time.
We're trying to do it and wealso know what to expect this
time.
Caleb Ayers (14:00):
Other staff, like student support and student
services.
Stewart East (14:03):
When are they supposed to be moving into this,
so that goes back to theBuilding 2 that I was discussing
earlier, the 30,000-square-footBuilding 2.
That is scheduled to be doneroughly next December or January
Of 2020.
Of 2026.
So January of 26.
Wesley Cifers (14:24):
We have a lot of wraparound support in ATDM the
employees that tend to spend themost time with students.
We're already transitioningthem over now to temporary
offices so we have a studentsupport team that they'll
regularly interact with thestudents for job interviews,
kind of checking on wherethey're at in classes and
different things.
So they're already over therenow.
(14:46):
Also, management, all theinstructors, the leads for the
departments and coordinators.
Caleb Ayers (14:52):
We talked a little in the beginning about how
obviously more space is helpfulfor this program and, stuart, I
love that point you made.
That the fact that we couldeven create a temporary space
for this program, I think speaksto flexible our campuses and
how we have different spaces fordifferent things, that they
might have been designed for onething but we can quickly flip
(15:13):
them around and use them forsomething else, and that's
definitely a strength of ourcampus, that, whether it's
hosting an external partner orwhether it's standing up our own
programs, like, we have spaceto do different things.
Like that.
Um, but for for this newbuilding you know we talked
about more space is good.
Um, that there's definitelythat.
What are some of the other waysthat this new facility is going
(15:33):
to help enhance or improve theexperience for atdm students and
and for, I guess, the impact ofthe program?
Stewart East (15:40):
well, I'll let Wesley answer this, but I think
for us the biggest thing ishaving everybody in one
centralized location, absolutelyIn the same building.
Wesley Cifers (15:48):
That's exactly what I was going to say.
When we started ATDM, we werein different locations, not even
on campus.
So when we all came to the ILRcampus, it helped a lot, but
we're still very spread out.
Something we've always wantedto do with training is run it
like a real manufacturingenvironment, so having all your
departments work together.
It's been kind of difficult upto this point, now that we're
(16:10):
under one roof and there werealso some designs in the new
building that would betteraccommodate us working together
as a manufacturing environment.
Caleb Ayers (16:19):
That's pretty much the questions I have.
I mean, I think you know it'scool to see all the
collaboration obviously betweenyou know the teams here and you
know whether it be inside ATDMor store with you guys with
facilities or IT.
I know there's a lot ofdifferent people involved and,
as you guys have said, so manydifferent external partners
involved in helping plan andexecute this move and obviously
(16:41):
we got more moving to come inMarch.
But what's what else?
Do you guys want to add?
Anything else you think it'simportant that people know,
whether it be about you know themove to this building and what
that experience was like, orjust generally about how this
will help the ATDM program.
Stewart East (16:57):
Yeah, I think the only thing that I really want to
add at the end is going back toall those partners that we had,
both internal and external, andhow big, how thankful we are
for all the support that we'vereceived, you know, from the
facilities team, the IT team and, of course, all the ATDM
employees that helped out withthis.
I mean, it's just been anamazing experience and we're
(17:18):
just glad to be a part of itAbsolutely, and you know we talk
about the struggles and theheadaches.
Wesley Cifers (17:23):
All of that stuff helps us as a team, right, it's
been a lot of excitement, it'sbeen fun, it's been stressful,
sleepless nights and so forth,but I think as a team, everyone
has grown through it.
Again, it's been all hands ondeck and wouldn't have been
possible without everyone.
Caleb Ayers (17:40):
That's the important line in everyone's job
description.
That says other duties asassigned right.
Wesley Cifers (17:44):
Yes, that's right .
Caleb Ayers (17:44):
So you guys, maybe they should change your titles
and add moving coordinator.
Just comma moving coordinatorat the end?
Yeah, don't do them.
Or assistant director of moving.
You know there's all kinds ofoptions there.
Well, thank you guys for beinghere and giving the behind the
scenes view of what the move islike.
We appreciate it.
Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR.
Thanks for joining us.
Today we're going to do a funsort of behind-the-scenes tour
of kind of what it's like tobasically move into a new
building for one of our majorprograms.
So recently the Navy's NationalTraining Center opened on our
campus.
That is the new home of theAccelerated Training and Defense
(00:31):
Manufacturing Program.
This building is a 100,000square foot facility with more
that's still being added to it.
But basically we've had theATDM program sort of in a
temporary space on our campusand we're now transitioning that
to this new building, theNavy's National Training Center.
So here to talk about kind ofwhat the move was like and how
(00:53):
do you plan a move into a100,000-square-foot building.
And with all these, you knowvery technical programs and an
ongoing program.
You know how do you plan allthat.
An ongoing program.
You know how do you plan allthat.
We have Stuart East who's oursenior facilities manager, and
we also have Wesley Cypherswho's the assistant director of
advanced training and operationsin our manufacturing
(01:13):
advancement division.
So I'm excited to talk behindthe scenes of what it's like to
get this new building up andrunning.
So thank you guys for beinghere.
Yeah, thanks, caleb.
Thank you for having us.
For those who don't know, atdmAccelerated Training and Defense
Manufacturing Wesley can yougive us kind of a very brief
rundown?
Most of our listeners wouldhave a general idea, but can you
(01:33):
give a brief rundown of whatATDM is?
Wesley Cifers (01:36):
Sure.
So it's a 16-week trainingprogram.
It's accelerated in nature.
We train in five differentareas.
We have additive manufacturing,CNC machining, metrology or
quality assurance,non-destructive testing and
welding.
So essentially a student wouldpick a track.
They would spend full fourmonths in that track.
Training is five days a week,40 hours a week.
(01:57):
In our training programs wehave a six to one ratio, so each
class we have 12 students andwe have an instructor and a
technician.
Something else that makes ATDMspecial is having a one to one
equipment student ratio.
Our CNC machining program andwelding reflect that.
(02:19):
Nice have 24 pieces ofequipment at all times for two
classes to operate side by sideacross three shifts.
Caleb Ayers (02:23):
So at any given time you're saying in CNC
machining and welding, there's24 students in there and 24
pieces of equipment.
That's 24 hours a day, fivedays a week, correct, that's
yeah, that's, that's awesomeWith this new building.
I know it's 100,000 square feet.
I've seen a little bit of theinside, but tell us a little bit
about.
You know sort of what are thelabs like?
What is this new facilityequipped for?
Wesley Cifers (02:45):
The new facility.
It's much larger than ourtemporary facilities that we
were in.
We still had 24 pieces ofequipment for CNC, for example.
This new building, our CNC lab,is approximately 11,000 square
foot, so we have a lot more room.
Cnc would have a dedicatedmetrology lab inside of it for
students to practice measuringskills.
(03:06):
We also have the ability to addsome additional equipment in
and new capabilities.
Our metrology program.
We were able to purchase 12CMMs for students to use, so
metrology will go to aone-to-one ratio as well for
students to be able to utilizethat equipment.
It's pretty unique.
Ndt and additive programs wewere able to add some additional
equipment in there as well forstudents to be able to utilize
that equipment.
It's pretty unique.
Ndt and additive programs wewere able to add some additional
(03:27):
equipment in there as well.
And also, yeah, our NDTprograms.
Today they were using twoclassrooms in current facility.
They have two very large labsnow to utilize.
Caleb Ayers (03:39):
We can actually fit 24 students in each of those
labs and we'll get to this somelater too, but it sounds like
this facility was made with theidea that there's room to grow
in it, that it's not just theamount of students that are
coming now, but that this couldbe scaled up even more.
Wesley Cifers (03:52):
So we started ATDM in 2021.
The first class had a littleover 30 students that we
graduated.
Fast forward to today.
We have about 500 students, alittle more, coming through each
year.
Our goal is to get to 800 to1,000 students per year and this
new facility will allow us todo that, Having the additional
space, being able to addadditional shifts with extra
(04:14):
equipment and so forth.
Caleb Ayers (04:15):
It's cool to see you know, because I know the
temporary space that we had setup for this program was tight.
You know you said the new labis 11,000 square feet for CNC
Going in the old one.
Stewart East (04:27):
That was not 11,000 square feet, the old lab
was about half that and we wereliterally squeezed in like
sardine cans and we were verylucky to have that space to
start out with and move thisprogram forward without needing
to wait for this building to beconstructed.
That is the key to rememberabout all of this is we were
(04:48):
able to immediately start thisprogram while the building was
under construction and we had atight 18-month deadline that we
had set for ourselves to movethis program over to the
building, and we were able toaccomplish that.
It was tough, I mean, we had tomake sacrifices.
Everybody did and one of theother things you were talking
(05:11):
about, caleb, is the 100,000square foot that the building
will eventually be.
And that's a key here is, inorder to meet that 18-month
deadline that we set forourselves, our architectural
partners decided to build thebuilding in two different phases
.
So right now, building one,which really houses all of our
(05:32):
equipment, is about 70,000square feet, so that is the one
that's coming up on completionvery shortly.
The second building, which wecall building two, will be about
30,000 square feet and thatwill house most of the staff and
student services and studentlounge.
Caleb Ayers (05:53):
So that's an interesting thing you're talking
about and this was something Iwanted to get into that idea
that this move was not all atonce, and I know that some of
the parts of the program havealready moved over, like welding
and CNC machining, and otherswill move over in March.
So tell us a little bit aboutkind of how did you all go about
(06:13):
figuring out how to schedulethis move, how to plan this?
What was that process like ofplanning all of this move and
figuring out those phases?
Stewart East (06:23):
Right, so about 18 months ago when we started
designing this or finisheddesign of this move and figuring
out those phases.
Right so about 18 months agowhen we started designing this
or finished design of thisbuilding and decided, you know,
went into construction.
We did have that plan.
You know, at that 18-month markthat we would try to be moving
some of our classes in here Froma training standpoint.
Wesley Cifers (06:37):
We had to look at our schedule of classes.
That was difficult 16 to 18different classes.
We're starting cohorts up everytwo months, so trying to plan
when we had the most downtimewith the least effect on
training to move this equipmentover.
So we found a time right beforeChristmas.
We also looked at in ourdifferent programs we offer
(06:58):
certifications.
They would kind of be like yourend of term exams, if you will.
So leading up to that, it's acouple of weeks we would spend
in the classroom, more so thanon the machines, going over
different methods, proceduresand then going through the
certification process.
So throughout that, dependingon the area, they don't need
equipment as much.
So that was a good time forcertain areas to move over the
(07:21):
rest.
We just had to work with theinstructional team and shift
around their schedule, some forhow they plan training.
Leading up to it, we scheduledriggers, and I'll let Stuart
touch a little bit more on that,but it was all hands on deck
for two to three weeks to geteveryone to help out moving
small equipment over.
While the riggers were movingour large equipment, we had
(07:45):
quite a bit of tools,consumables and different things
that we had to move over andalso we had to schedule our
external partners who work onsome of our equipment and who we
dealt with for quite a bit.
They came in right behind ourriggers and started setting the
equipment up.
So it was nonstop for, I wouldsay, six weeks or so throughout
(08:05):
that move.
Stewart East (08:06):
Yeah, like Wesley said, we started about eight
months ago really planning whenwe would move the equipment over
and at that point we startedgetting partners on board.
Like you said, that includedriggers, electricians, people
like that that would move,actually physically move the
equipment over the tightdeadline.
(08:26):
We had people like that thatwould move, actually physically
move the equipment over thetight deadline we had.
Like Wesley mentioned, we onlyhad about a week to actually
move this equipment, so we hadevery single hour of every day
planned out and, of course, whenit came time to make all that
happen, we basically justscrapped it all and just made it
happen during that week.
Caleb Ayers (08:44):
This was the week right before the Christmas break
when our campus was closed.
Stewart East (08:47):
That's correct.
Caleb Ayers (08:48):
So that was the deadline you're up against, yeah
.
Stewart East (08:50):
So we had kind of two days scheduled, the first
part of the week to unhookequipment, have one of our
partners come in and put theshipping brackets on the actual
CNC machines.
Once we got that put in place,the next two days we're
physically moving the CNCmachines over, and again it was
(09:10):
24 of those, so that took sometime.
Caleb Ayers (09:13):
Ballpark.
What do those weigh?
Just curious.
Stewart East (09:15):
A little over 10,000 pounds apiece.
So they would load three ofthem on a tractor trailer and
secure them down and take thoseover.
While they were setting thosein the building, they would have
another tractor traileractually loading another set on
and just flip-flop all day long.
As one hit the ground, we wouldhave our other partners, our
(09:39):
electricians, come in and theywere actually wiring the
equipment as soon as one hit theground and also we were running
compressed air to thosemachines as well.
Once they got on the ground, wehad our other partners come
back, take those shippingbrackets off of the machines and
they would level them and dotheir magic where they, you know
(09:59):
, get them back to where thestudents could actually use them
sounds like a pretty smoothprocess.
Caleb Ayers (10:05):
You guys figured out here.
I mean it worked.
Stewart East (10:07):
but you know, like I said, all of our plans that
we had kind of made.
We just kind of had to wing itthere in the end and just make
it all work and we had a lot ofinternal support here at the
Institute.
Lots of Institute employeesplayed a hand in this.
Wesley and I are here doingthis podcast, but there's a lot
(10:29):
of people that we need to thankfor their support, absolutely.
Wesley Cifers (10:34):
And Stuart kind of hit the nail on the head ATDM
since day one is just get itdone.
I can't say that everything hasgone to plan, but we have a
team of go-getters and it alwaysgoes through Things in life
generally do not go according toplan, so that ability to get it
done anyway, that's.
Stewart East (10:50):
That's right.
That's the key to the wholething is we were able to make it
happen and we can say thatwe've got students in the
building today doing training.
Caleb Ayers (10:58):
Welding, cnc machining and metrology students
are already in the new building.
I know we had a new cohortstart a few weeks after
Christmas, in January, and thenit'll be additive and
non-destructive testing.
They move over in for March.
Is that correct?
Maybe the last few weeks ofMarch and I mean you guys have
talked about things not goingaccording to schedule but in
(11:19):
both in the planning and then inthe actual execution.
What were some of thechallenges that came up and how
did you guys?
How did you guys working withother?
Obviously, stuart, youmentioned there's a lot of
partners involved outside ofIALR as well.
How did you all figure out howto overcome those challenges?
Stewart East (11:34):
Yeah, coordinating between partners is probably
the most difficult piece andwhile I say that, really the
tight schedule and deadline wasthe hardest part, but just
having, you know, a hundreddifferent people involved in the
move to make it happen soquickly.
You know, if we had six monthsto do this it wouldn't have been
a big deal at all, but we weretrying to do it all in a week
(11:56):
and we made it happen.
Wesley Cifers (11:58):
And that's.
It's not much exaggeration.
A hundred sounds insane butwhen you look at you know
partners around equipment,rigging, software, everything.
It's a lot of people that haveto coordinate and come together
to make it all happen.
Who's the point person for thismove?
I'm going to say we have a fewpoint people.
Stewart is definitely the mainpoint as far as facilities.
(12:21):
From my end it was the training, logistics and equipment.
Chad Roach also had a majorpart in more so, supervising the
crews over there and makingsure everything went as planned.
Caleb Ayers (12:33):
Also, coordination of everything you know as we
mentioned, those three parts ofthe program are already moved
over there, and then additivemanufacturing, non-destructive
testing, will move over in March.
Talk about sort of why that isand kind of what's the plan for
obviously we've got another movecoming up, so what's the plans
for that?
Wesley Cifers (12:50):
Yeah, one of the biggest reasons for that was
simply just not movingeverything at one time.
We also have a good amount ofequipment and additive that has
to come over equipment andadditive that has to come over
NDT.
We're purchasing some newequipment and really
logistically it made more senseto hold those two off.
We had one class that was stillhere.
Again, we're starting upcohorts every two months, so one
(13:13):
will graduate and the existingcohort that's still there would
have two more months and it's aconstant cycle.
So it made more sense for thosetwo classes to continue on
until March.
We'll have a little bit ofdowntime there in between
cohorts for them where we canmove students and what equipment
we have over at that time andthat one won't be pushed up
against a Christmas break whereeveryone's about to leave,
(13:34):
correct?
Stewart East (13:35):
But it will be pushed up against the next
cohort starting, which is almostthe same thing.
Wesley Cifers (13:40):
Yeah, it's definitely still a time crunch,
but I see it going smoother,just for the nature of we're not
going against the buildingdeadlines and everything else
all at the same time andholidays.
Stewart East (13:53):
Yeah, we don't have construction going on
literally at the same time.
We're trying to do it and wealso know what to expect this
time.
Caleb Ayers (14:00):
Other staff, like student support and student
services.
Stewart East (14:03):
When are they supposed to be moving into this,
so that goes back to theBuilding 2 that I was discussing
earlier, the 30,000-square-footBuilding 2.
That is scheduled to be doneroughly next December or January
Of 2020.
Of 2026.
So January of 26.
Wesley Cifers (14:24):
We have a lot of wraparound support in ATDM the
employees that tend to spend themost time with students.
We're already transitioningthem over now to temporary
offices so we have a studentsupport team that they'll
regularly interact with thestudents for job interviews,
kind of checking on wherethey're at in classes and
different things.
So they're already over therenow.
(14:46):
Also, management, all theinstructors, the leads for the
departments and coordinators.
Caleb Ayers (14:52):
We talked a little in the beginning about how
obviously more space is helpfulfor this program and, stuart, I
love that point you made.
That the fact that we couldeven create a temporary space
for this program, I think speaksto flexible our campuses and
how we have different spaces fordifferent things, that they
might have been designed for onething but we can quickly flip
(15:13):
them around and use them forsomething else, and that's
definitely a strength of ourcampus, that, whether it's
hosting an external partner orwhether it's standing up our own
programs, like, we have spaceto do different things.
Like that.
Um, but for for this newbuilding you know we talked
about more space is good.
Um, that there's definitelythat.
What are some of the other waysthat this new facility is going
(15:33):
to help enhance or improve theexperience for atdm students and
and for, I guess, the impact ofthe program?
Stewart East (15:40):
well, I'll let Wesley answer this, but I think
for us the biggest thing ishaving everybody in one
centralized location, absolutelyIn the same building.
Wesley Cifers (15:48):
That's exactly what I was going to say.
When we started ATDM, we werein different locations, not even
on campus.
So when we all came to the ILRcampus, it helped a lot, but
we're still very spread out.
Something we've always wantedto do with training is run it
like a real manufacturingenvironment, so having all your
departments work together.
It's been kind of difficult upto this point, now that we're
(16:10):
under one roof and there werealso some designs in the new
building that would betteraccommodate us working together
as a manufacturing environment.
Caleb Ayers (16:19):
That's pretty much the questions I have.
I mean, I think you know it'scool to see all the
collaboration obviously betweenyou know the teams here and you
know whether it be inside ATDMor store with you guys with
facilities or IT.
I know there's a lot ofdifferent people involved and,
as you guys have said, so manydifferent external partners
involved in helping plan andexecute this move and obviously
(16:41):
we got more moving to come inMarch.
But what's what else?
Do you guys want to add?
Anything else you think it'simportant that people know,
whether it be about you know themove to this building and what
that experience was like, orjust generally about how this
will help the ATDM program.
Stewart East (16:57):
Yeah, I think the only thing that I really want to
add at the end is going back toall those partners that we had,
both internal and external, andhow big, how thankful we are
for all the support that we'vereceived, you know, from the
facilities team, the IT team and, of course, all the ATDM
employees that helped out withthis.
I mean, it's just been anamazing experience and we're
(17:18):
just glad to be a part of itAbsolutely, and you know we talk
about the struggles and theheadaches.
Wesley Cifers (17:23):
All of that stuff helps us as a team, right, it's
been a lot of excitement, it'sbeen fun, it's been stressful,
sleepless nights and so forth,but I think as a team, everyone
has grown through it.
Again, it's been all hands ondeck and wouldn't have been
possible without everyone.
Caleb Ayers (17:40):
That's the important line in everyone's job
description.
That says other duties asassigned right.
Wesley Cifers (17:44):
Yes, that's right .
Caleb Ayers (17:44):
So you guys, maybe they should change your titles
and add moving coordinator.
Just comma moving coordinatorat the end?
Yeah, don't do them.
Or assistant director of moving.
You know there's all kinds ofoptions there.
Well, thank you guys for beinghere and giving the behind the
scenes view of what the move islike.
We appreciate it.
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