Over 100 industry leaders from Mobile’s manufacturing companies, along with city, county and state officials, were on hand at Bishop State Community College Tuesday to celebrate the Gene Haas Center for Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

“Nobody has it over Mobile right now when it comes to advanced manufacturing training and the other aspects of training that’s going on at Bishop State today. It’s incredible,” Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said Tuesday.

The center, which is already open, allows students at Bishop State to receive training in a variety of STEM programs, including Computer-Aided Drafting and Design, 3D printing, Electronic Engineering Technology (EET) and Mechatronics and Robotics.

It is also home to the only process technology training center of its kind in the world, officials say: The facility contains a fully independent functional pilot plant with three Polaris Hands-On-Training (HOT) units, including one with a glycol distillation column. The units are operated by an Emerson Delta V Distributed Control System (DCS) from a separate production control room, built like those in the industry.

Students who train at the center are also able to work at an industrial facility in the area through the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) on the Coast program. Students spend part of the week working at a facility, such as AM/NS Calvert, and part of the week at Bishop State, completing the training required for an associate degree.