MT Magazine May/June 2023

FEATURE STORY

THE WORKFORCE ISSUE

14

The MK C2 system is a sophisticated piece of automotive mechatronics. People often describe something as “state of the art.” Arguably this is. Eric Childers, manager, manufacturing engineering, at the Morganton plant, says that some of the local people thought that brake pads or brake rotors were being produced at the factory, not state-of-the-art (yes, I said it) braking systems. The Program Childers, who has been with Continental since 1992, helped establish an apprenticeship program at Morganton in 2014. Brad Silver, who has been at the factory for 23 years and is also in manufacturing engineering, works with Childers on organizing and recruiting for the program. Childers says that the program is focused on, not surprisingly, mechatronics: mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, robotics, automation, programming. The goal is to develop people who are multicraft-capable, multiskilled. The factory is chock full of robots and lasers, material handling, and servocontrols. The environment is clean and bright. It is a far cry from the local garage cluttered with fugitive unmounted tires and shop rags whose red is long forgotten. As is the case with apprenticeship programs throughout the United States, Childers and Silver worked with the state of North Carolina to establish the program (initially, the North Carolina Department of Commerce managed the state’s apprenticeship program; now it is handled by the North Carolina Community College System: www.apprenticeshipnc.com), which combines both on-the-job training and classes that lead to a two-year degree in applied science with a specialization in areas like mechatronics or industrial systems technology. In the case at Conti, there are 5,200 hours of on-the-job training. Silver says that most of the students carry 16 credit hours per semester,

The Morganton plant – a 210,000-square-foot facility where some 500 people work – has long produced the MK C1 brake system. And now it is going on to the MK C2, which is a sophisticated system Conti developed with BMW that combines the master cylinder, brake booster, and control systems into a single 4.3-liter system. What’s more, it is based on Conti’s Multilogic Architecture and provides features including 100%-efficient regenerative braking. Yes, the FBS 2 approach is about facilitating the stopping of electrified vehicles that can include levels of autonomy. It has over-the-air (OTA) update capability.