South Texas College Unveils Expanded Festo Lab

The technology campus of South Texas College in McAllen, TX officially opened its expanded Festo Lab at 3201 Pecan Blvd. The $9.3-million, 8,000-square-foot building is double the size of the original lab, and is being used to help certify students in repairing Festo-manufactured equipment. Festo, headquartered in Esslingen, Germany, manufactures industrial automation equipment.

STC was the first in the United States to become a Festo-certified training center. To secure certification, students are required to complete 615 hours of training in 12 different modules, that include hydraulics, pneumatics, robotics and programmable logical controllers.

Carlos Margo, an STC dean, said that the lab was introduced in 2015 to serve regional partners, as well as the maquila plants just over the border. “If we can get 10% of them to come and take some training here, that would help us get to capacity,” he told the Rio Grande Guardian.

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