Latest news with #IACMI


Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
New MTU-IACMI Partnership Expands Metallurgy Education And Outreach
Casting—pouring molten metal into molds to create new components—is one of the fundamental skills ... More covered by IACMI's METAL program. With all the focus currently on skilled trades training and recruiting, one vital area that hasn't gotten a lot of attention is the fundamental processes of making things from metal. The Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship & Learning program was founded in June 2024 to help with that, and its latest win is a new partnership with Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. METAL is led by the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation with funding from the Department of Defense's Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program, It focuses breakthrough education and awareness efforts on the metallurgical processes of casting, forging and plate rolling. The new partnership will provide workforce training to strengthen metalworking industries. As METAL's newest hub operator, Michigan Tech joins The Ohio State University, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, the University of Alabama in Birmingham, and Pennsylvania State University in helping deliver METAL's nationally recognized curriculum, facilitate instructor certification, and launch boot camps and academic pathways for metalworking professionals. MTU will also integrate METAL training into its existing Summer Youth Programs, offering an introduction to metalworking, metallurgy and materials science to high school students from across the Upper Midwest. Plate rolling—running hot metal through progressive roll mills to create thinner slabs—is another of ... More the basic processes in the METAL program. 'We're trying to create exposure,' Greg Harrell, workforce coordinator at IACMI, told me in an interview. 'K through gray is what we call it, from kindergarten all the way through to adults, to expose them to different types of metallurgical-type processes.' 'So Michigan Tech, one of the ones things they're doing is summer youth programs,' added Michael Kubacki, project coordinator at IACMI added. 'We're able to help fund those so that they have more casting and forging curriculum, or expand on it, add more summer youth programs to try to get more kids interested. It can also drive them to take a metal or material science or engineering course at school so you can help drive admissions into the higher degree pathways for engineering.' The MTU hub curriculum will combine interactive online learning with in-person casting and forging boot camps at MTU's state-of-the-art labs. Future educational modules will incorporate training on automation in casting and forging and will open pathways to employment in critical industry roles. 'We have a fully working foundry,' Alexandra Glover, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at MTU, said in an interview. 'We have full-time staff who work there. So it's a really easy thing for us to slot in. As a department, we've taught a very rigorous castings class for a very long time, and so curriculum-wise, a lot of the activities line up really well with METAL. We're used to having large groups of students in our foundry all the time.' Forging—using powerful presses to shape hot metal—is another of the METAL program's fundamental ... More metallurgical processes. Glover sees additional educational opportunities arising as the program moves forward. 'We're making some upgrades to the facilities, just to have better teaching spaces, designated spaces where we don't have to deconflict research and teaching as much. We are getting a mill and a lathe so we can incorporate some machining into our program… Right now, they are mostly focused on casting. My background is actually in forging. For me, I would love to get more into the metalworking space.' Growing the program is also a focus for IACMI as well. 'We're going to continue to grow our network,' said Kubacki. 'We have a proposal out there that is not yet to be executed, but we're told soon that'll help us get eight to 10 more sites. … We also have Ohio State, and one of their deliverables is plans for a mobile foundry.' 'We're also trying to integrate the METAL program into our high schools,' added Harrell. 'We're doing one in Grange County here in Tennessee. We're integrating our place like a workshop where the kids will melt tin, they'll create a mold, they'll pour that, and we'll have some curriculum-building around that with the teachers there. We have a lot of outreach programs we're doing there to try to spark more interest in the metallurgical-type processes.' From her perch at Michigan Tech, Glover sees both the need for, and the tremendous opportunities that can arise from, programs like METAL. 'There's a ton of need for people to enter this workforce, a ton of opportunity to develop new technologies. Our factories and our forging houses and our metalworking spaces need to be modernized. They need a high level of investment over the next couple decades just to meet the manufacturing needs of this country. And that really hasn't been the case for a long time. So it's a really exciting time, and it's also a great area for employment. Michigan Tech grads have a super-high employment rate. I think that's true for engineering in general, and this is a great industry that has had a lot of hiring and continues to have a lot of hiring. And that's true both on the college side and on the trade side. You can make a really good career out of being a trades person in a metalworking space.'


Business Upturn
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business Upturn
How U.S. manufacturing is finding machinists
STUART, Fla., May 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — When Pace Machine & Tool owner Monica Dirr visited an America's Cutting Edge (ACE) CNC machining bootcamp during a 2023 visit to Indian River State College, she slipped one of the participants her business card. ''When you graduate, call me,'' she told him. 'And he did. I hired him right away.' The success he's had at the small aerospace machine shop in Stuart changed how Dirr has found and trained CNC machinists. ACE provides free online and in-person training to participants interested in starting or upskilling their machining careers. In-person bootcamps typically run for five days, with time spent on CAD/CAM software and CNC machines. Dirr says the national program 'gives people the basic skills' that she can build on to put them on the shop floor. Additionally, it's transformed her talent search process. 'It saves you money,' she said. 'I went through the routine of advertising and interviewing people. It wastes time. When I go to the school and hire someone out of the program, they're ready to go.' Dirr has described the program as a 'filter' to finding serious employees. And she isn't alone in the approach of using ACE to find or upskill talent. Missouri-based Seyer Industries has described the ACE bootcamp as great not only for exposure, but as a prerequisite for apprentices. 'I see ACE as a recruiting tool,' Chance Henke, workforce development manager at Seyer, said. 'We have an apprenticeship that this could serve as a pipeline to.' Mayday Manufacturing in Texas has been sending cohorts of its own personnel through the training as they've turned to in-house employees to fill their machining needs. 'What ACE has done for us is give a leg-up to their training and accelerate their exposure,' said Craig Barhorst, director of operations. 'We see it as beneficial for our new machinists or those who show promise to become machinists.' If you're a company looking for talent, consider visiting an ACE partner. A full list of partners can be found here. Contact us if you'd like us to facilitate a connection between you and your nearest ACE partner. About ACE America's Cutting Edge, supported by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program, is a national training program designed to reestablish American leadership in the machine tool industry through transformative thinking, technological innovation, and workforce development. The curriculum – developed by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Professor Dr. Tony Schmitz and Dr. Uday Vaidya, IACMI CTO and the UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor's Chair for Advanced Composites Manufacturing – combines advanced training and techniques from the University of Tennessee, the scientific expertise of the Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the proven workforce development capabilities of IACMI. About IACMI The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, or IACMI–The Composites Institute®, is dedicated to securing U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing by connecting people, ideas, and technology. IACMI is a 165-plus member community of industry, academic institutions, and government organizations working to enhance U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, with a strong focus on technology, commercialization and workforce development. Established in 2015 by the Department of Energy, IACMI is one of 18 Manufacturing USA Institutes collaborating to accelerate new technology, create new products, reduce costs and risks, and equip the workforce with future-ready skills. IACMI also partners with the Department of Defense to scale up industry-driven job skills and revitalize American manufacturing. Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, IACMI is managed by the Collaborative Composite Solutions Corporation, a not-for-profit organization established by The University of Tennessee Research Foundation. Media Contact: Michael Alachnowicz | IACMI Communications Specialist [email protected]