In 1975, CPRF took a giant stride toward its goal of providing employment opportunities for people with disabilities when it built Center Industries Corporation. This manufacturing facility is not a sheltered work center, rather a manufacturing facility that pays its employees competitive wages and provides a benefit package that includes health and life insurance and a pension plan. CIC competes for contracts in the "real-world" manufacturing marketplace without reference to the fact that 75 percent of the production work force is severely disabled. CIC produces a variety of components and assemblies for both governmental and commercial customers.

The engineering achievements that made large-scale employment of people with disabilities possible at CIC were recognized in 1976 when CPRF and the College of Engineering at Wichita State University became a National Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center - one of only 16 RERCs in the United States. The RERC maintained this status and received funding through the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research through May 1998.

For Employment Opportunities at Center Industries Corporation call (316) 942-8255.