Hermance Machine Company would like to congratulate the Pittsburgh Carpenter Joint Apprenticeship and Training Program (CJATP) for earning the award for 2010 Educator of the Year presented by the Woodworking Machinery Industry Association (WMIA).

The Pittsburgh CJATP built a new training facility in Robinson Township (near Pittsburgh) that was completed in early 2010. They invested in new technology for all different trades that are taught under the Carpenter Joint Apprenticeship and Training Program. The Mill Cabinet program is taught by Wayne Babjack, who accepted the award at the ceremony in Chicago in late October. With the assistance from Ray Vogel, Training Director of the whole facility, as well as an advisory board made up of key people from local members, the Pittsburgh CJATP decided that the future success of its program depended on having modern equipment. It was critical that the training program be equipped in a way that could properly prepare the apprentices for the machinery they will tackle in the field. The collection of the previous training equipment, from a belt driven tenoner and moulder to a CNC panel saw, were analyzed for relevance in the new program. Hermance Machine assisted the program in removing the obsolete equipment, and then disassembling, moving, and reassembling the key machines being kept at the new facility. It was a substantial undertaking, involving advanced rigging of large machines out of the old school, as well as the somewhat easier job of offloading them at the new facility.

Mill Cabinet Instructor Wayne Babjack (left) and Ian Strouse from Hermance Machine Company demonstrating how to properly adjust the new edgebander.