CSU joins Industry 4.0 with new lab donation

A newly opened state-of-the-art lab in the Washkewicz College of Engineering will train CSU students on some of the same equipment found in today’s advanced manufacturing facilities. The Rockwell Automation Connected Enterprise Laboratory is fully designed by Rockwell Automation and comes to the university as a gift from the global leader in industrial automation and digital technology.

The donation builds on a nearly 30-year partnership between CSU and the company.

“Our goals are really the same: to provide updated equipment for our students to learn the newest and best technologies, and to graduate students with skills that could be applied to many industries and employers, including Rockwell Automation,”said Joanne Belovich, Ph.D., interim dean of the College of Engineering.

Linking manufacturing with automation and the industrial internet of things, the lab joins Industry 4.0—what is known as the fourth industrial revolution. And Belovich predicts that the lab’s innovations will affect “everything from automotive and aerospace manufacturing to food and pharmaceutical processes.

President Harlan Sands echoed that excitement, noting the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead.  

“When leaders of colleges and schools engage in great creative partnerships with the business community… and with Rockwell investing in us and our students, that creates momentum.”