Engine City Technical Institute


Engine City Technical Institute is a for-profit college focused on diesel technology and located in South Plainfield, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, a short distance off of Interstate 287.

History

Engine City was founded in Union, New Jersey, in 1969 as a training center to accommodate the need for diesel mechanics in New Jersey and the surrounding areas.

Curriculum

Engine City uses a nine-week "phase system", where a student will attend the same class, five hours a day, five days a week, for nine weeks before moving onto the next class. Program length is typically about 13 months. The classes are as follows :
Engine City currently employs as instructors two former Cummins Techs of the Year, and as such have an extremely strong relationship with Cummins. Engine City also has a strong relationship with Binder as a result of Binder's head trainer being a graduate of the school. Only one individual teaches training programs at Foley CAT, a major Caterpillar dealership. Unfortunately, Engine City has not been able to secure any relationship with Volvo Trucks or Mack Trucks beyond Mack sending several second-hand transmissions and rears to the Drive-Train shop.

The future

There are two major potential directions that Engine City's administration is considering taking. The first direction would be to convert their current facility in South Plainfield into an automotive motorcycle training facility, while purchasing a larger building to house the heavy-duty facility, as space is quite scarce in the current facility's bays.
The second direction would be to become a CAT affiliate and a major training center for Caterpillar technicians, which would render most of the current curriculum to be moot as it deals with non-Caterpillar technology, but at the same time provide CAT with a golden source of trained and refined techs.
As of January 2009, Engine City Technical Institute - Diesel Mechanics School and Training Center has been acquired by Lincoln Education Corporation. This Corporation operates over 100 schools throughout the U.S. This acquisition will serve as Lincoln Groups diesel mechanics school for the tri state area. This acquisition will also allow Engine City Technical Institute to purchase more equipment to service its growing student population.