Cyberspace college of molding

As previously reported, Nypro and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell have extended the reach of The Nypro Institute, now celebrating its 20th year of providing training for all of Nypro's 4850 employees and the general public. Today, within virtual ivy walls, students anywhere can take fully accredited courses.

Enio E. Velazco, Nypro's corporate director of online education, says the website averages over 2500 hits a day. At last count, 120 users were enrolled, 60 of which are companies other than Nypro. "We've even been approved by the State of Illinois for training displaced workers interested in injection molding," Velazco adds.

Spending five to eight hours per week online, course completion takes about 14 weeks. Tuition per course is $400 with academic credits and $300 without. There is also a $50 fee to cover website administration and maintenance, but it is still a fraction of the cost of offline college courses, and this college is open 24-7. You can register online with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or by check, anytime. There are no set starting or completion dates.

Two of the 10 planned courses are currently online: Basic Injection Molding and Introduction to Mold Design. More are coming soon in Polymeric Materials, Design, and Applications; Robotics, Automation, and Applications; SPC, Hydraulics and Pneumatics; Maintenance; Supervision Principles; Blueprint Reading; and Process Optimization.

Velazco says the online college has attracted several possible new partners, including one who is working with the SPI and its molder certification program. He also anxiously anticipates coming technologies that will allow full-motion video online to improve the course graphics.

One day, he envisions providing shopfloor troubleshooting help over the Net, debited to the user's account.

Meanwhile, you can see what Nypro Online has to offer for yourself through a free course demo screen or simply browse around at its new website address listed below.