Manufacturer Giving Equipment to Purdue Polytechnic

Purdue says the center is poised to educate hundreds of students in its first few years.

Noblesville-based SMC Corp. of America has donated equipment valued at $500,000 to the new Purdue Polytechnic Institute in Anderson. It includes pneumatic components and equipment to serve as learning tools.

The donation will also allow for pressurized air in lab and classroom space. As a result, the institute’s Mechtronics Lab will be named for the subsidiary of SMC Corporation in Japan. The components include solenoid valves, air cylinders, air filtration equipment and refrigerated air dryers.

Purdue Polytechnic Anderson Director Corey Sharp says "we are extremely excited about SMC’s support and donation to Purdue Polytechnic Anderson.  This generous gift will provide cutting edge pneumatic equipment along with a significant amount of dedicated engineering consulting to incorporate that technology into the classrooms and labs of our new Manufacturing Technology Engineering Degree. The state of the art engineering technology lab is where students will learn both the technical and enterprise aspects of advanced manufacturing."

The company relocated its North American headquarters to Hamilton County from Marion County in 2009 and nearly doubled its production and engineering space to 1.5 million square-feet in 2012.

SMC Corp. of America Director of Marketing John Halvorsen says "partnering with Purdue Polytechnic Institute Anderson and the ‘Made in Anderson’ initiative is a natural extension of SMC’s commitment to support local Indiana and domestic manufacturing across all spectrums of industries from traditional manufacturing such as automotive and food & packaging to high tech manufacturing such as semiconductors and life sciences."