The public is invited to an open house from 2:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday for the new Midwest Center for Plastics and Design, located in the Hamilton Building at Central Community College-Hastings.

The Midwest Center for Plastics and Design was made possible because of a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The newly updated facility features state-of-the-art software and equipment, including a precision surface grinder, precision lathe, manual CNC lathe, CNC EDM RAM machine, horizontal band-saw, two CNC lathes, three vertical knee mills, four vertical machining centers and 10 CNC classroom simulators.

These updates will allow students to design and build prototypes of their concepts.

In addition, the center houses Nebraska's first and only HAAS Technical Education Center (HTEC). Because the campus is a HTEC partner, students and faculty members have access to the educational materials and technical training necessary to meet the demands of today's manufacturing industry.

http://www.theindependent.com/articles/2009/10/23/news/local/10783702.txt