Workforce Development & Training

Shape Corp., a tier-one automotive and industrial component supplier, is partnering with the SME Education Foundation to expand its manufacturing education program for high school students. The Foundation, Shape Corp. and Grand Haven Area Public Schools will collaborate through SME's Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education (PRIME) initiative, to develop and launch an advanced manufacturing education program at Grand Haven (Mich.) High School beginning in the 2018 academic year.

Machine tool builder GF Machining Solutions LLC announced its new "learn and earn" apprenticeship program during the first day of the machine tool builder's 2-day Solutions Days open house. The event, which took place June 6-7 at its Lincolnshire, Ill., headquarters, included technical presentations and equipment demonstrations.

Local high schools investing heavily in technical education have noticed interest from an unexpected subset of students: females. Late last year the Sheboygan Area School District built new advanced manufacturing labs at both high schools under a program called "Red Raider"—and similar manufacturing education centers have been constructed in high schools in Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls in recent years.

The April 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine includes an occasional column on Swiss-Style Machining that addresses training options for new and experienced machinists.

SMTCL USA Inc., City of Industry, Calif., received an award at the Digital Manufacturing Showcase event Feb. 10 from Galesburg High School for the machine tool builder's part in a new partnership bringing manufacturing training to high school students. This program gives students an opportunity to learn CAD, CNC programming and CNC operation.

Jennifer Creamer, a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), conducts research into fixing flaws introduced when machining large components. Beyond her research, Creamer herself is worthy of attention in this era of concern about manufacturing jobs going unfilled because of a lack of interested or qualified candidates.

Have a person familiar with a machine go over it with you. A person showing you how to do something can filter unneeded information, according to the Shop Operations column in the February 2017 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering.

Two high school students — senior Margaret Schiffer and sophomore Rosie Sirk — traveled to Los Angeles to represent the National Robotics League on behalf of Beaumont School at the SolidWorks World Conference.

High school manufacturing programs teach students to create production parts, preparing them for careers in industry. Those parts are primarily for terrestrial applications. However, unique and exciting opportunities to produce parts for use above the earth are available to partner-schools in a 14-year-old government program called HUNCH (High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware).

Shop Operations columnist James A. Harvey underscores the importance of his initial CNC training, which involved changing tools on a new mill. Just the act of changing a tool let him interact with the machine and controller in a way that gave him confidence.

It's hard for Babatunde Ogunnaike to contain his excitement at the thought of a new federal grants program aimed at improving the U.S. manufacturing workforce. Last week, President Barack Obama signed the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bill setting policy for all activities at the Department of Defense (DOD).

Students at the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools in East Brunswick, N.J., recently earned some media attention for making a device that enables a disabled man to toss a ball from his wheelchair and play fetch with his service dog.