Blackhawk Technical College to open its Innovative Manufacturing Education Center

JANESVILLE – Blackhawk Technical College will host a ceremonial ribbon cutting this week for its new Innovative Manufacturing Education Center. 

The event is Thursday, Oct. 24 at 5 p.m., at its Central Campus, 6004 County G, Janesville.  Industry partners will be on hand as well as Blackhawk Tech staff, faculty and staff.

After the ribbon cutting, there will be self-guided tours. Instructors will be stationed throughout the building to talk about the building and answer questions.

Plans to build the center, also known as I-MEC, were announced in June 2023. The college broke ground in September 2023, adding onto what was the district office. All district office operations were relocated elsewhere on campus to make I-MEC a reality.

I-MEC has a designated space for welding, and has specialized lab areas. There are also class spaces for automation systems technology, computer numeric control, electro-mechanical technology, industrial maintenance mechanic, manufacturing engineering technology, welding and manufacturing and HVAC-R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration.)

I-MEC has allowed the college to relocate its manufacturing courses to the Central Campus from its former Milton site, which it sold to KANDU Industries in May 2023.