BOULDER - The Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology has awarded grants to three manufacturing firms in the Boulder Valley to be used for employee training.

The association, a statewide manufacturing assistance center focused on increasing the strength and competitiveness of Colorado manufacturers, is helping Star Precision in Longmont, Carefree of Colorado in Broomfield and Research Electro Optics in Boulder upgrade the skills of their existing employees. The value of the grants for each company was not disclosed.

The Advanced Manufacturing Industry Training Program was created to address critical entrepreneurial and work force challenges identified by local manufacturers.  The program will provide training for 200 workers. The association received funding of $285,000 from the Metro Denver WIRED Initiative to offer the training to approved manufacturers in the aerospace, bioscience and energy industries.

"The training that CAMT is providing to our employees will be invaluable and will help us attract new clients and retain the ones we currently have," said Scott Rupprecht, chief executive of Star Precision. 

The Advanced Manufacturing Training Program is a collaboration that includes Boulder Economic Council, Workforce Boulder County, Jefferson Economic Council and Jefferson County Workforce Center.  The WIRED grant enabled the expansion of the program to Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Larimer and Weld counties.