Penning manufacturing’s future: Workforce Development & Training

EDITOR’S NOTE: This month’s is written by Terry M. Iverson, an industry veteran who has devoted his long career to machine tool distributor and rebuilder Iverson & Company in Des Plaines, Illinois. He is also the founder of CHAMPION Now, a nonprofit organization on a mission to change the way American manufacturing is perceived in our nation. He’s also written two books to help that effort: “Finding America’s Greatest Champion” and “Inspiring Champions in Advanced Manufacturing.”

How can we get more young people introduced to manufacturing earlier in the game? This is a question that I have pondered countless times over my 44 years working in this industry. Too many do not know what manufacturing is.

In search of an answer, I have given numerous presentations to high school students, mentored many young people in high school and in college programs. These efforts didn’t begin to answer that question.

click here to read a thank you letter written by Frank Holthouse, director of careers for Leyden High School District 212.” data-entity-type=”file” data-entity-uuid=”d41d64f7-d4f8-4bdb-b5d5-5af6671a096d” height=”787″ src=”/wp-content/uploads/legacy/inline-images/CampChamp-LeydenHS.png” width=”452″ />

Not long after I founded CHAMPION Now, I decided to produce a machining camp at a public school in Florida that I learned had a large number of students not headed to college. These students were in desperate need of an alternate path to a good paying career. While the camp was a big hit, boy did it cost me big time: $10,000 in rigging, freight, materials, and shirts—and, by the way, that didn’t cover the cost of the CNC machine tool itself or my week away from work.

Then it hit me that small table top CNC machines might be the answer to bring machining to high school and middle school students. No expensive freight or rigging costs! But it had to be a pre-programmed “turnkey solution” readily available to anyone willing to champion a camp in their community. That is essentially how CAMP CHAMP came to be.