While recently attending a workshop on starting or growing your school-based enterprise at the school district of Eleva-Strum in Wisconsin I discovered that they have great model for their student-run business. Their program, Cardinal Manufacturing teaches soft skills and employability skills along with learning the technology.

A few years ago, I learned about the Cardinal Manufacturing business in Eleva-Strum High School in Wisconsin. I was invited to attend their workshop on how they built their program in their technical education department. It was such an inspiration to hear how engaged the students were and how they were learning solid employability skills.

Communication and collaboration are important in the manufacturing industry. If we want to grow the industry, we need to keep up on the communication and collaboration. We must Communicate, Collaborate, and Connect and do it on a Consistent basis.

Cardinal Manufacturing in the Eleva-Strum School District in Wisconsin is a student-run manufacturing business that has repair services, welding services, woodworking services, machining services, design services, and 3D printing services.

Gage blocks (also known as gauge blocks) are inspection tools that are used in the machining industry. They typically come in an 81-piece set and the sizes in the set are as follows:

Adapting to the worker shortage in manufacturing is difficult. Some shops may choose to search more aggressively for employees, while others might invest in technology that helps streamline the manufacturing processes. Then there are other manufacturing facilities that may buy another machine shop to gain capabilities. Those are all ways to overcome the worker shortage, but this article will focus on how to introduce manufacturing to the younger generation to help fix the worker shortage.

For much of my childhood I didn’t want to be in school, probably like most people. But now I am trying to get back into several schools as a guest speaker to show students my STEM project and how it relates to my great career that I had in manufacturing. It is important to show the students that manufacturing and engineering is an awesome career choice.

Machining could be a stressful job, but it is as stressful as you make it out to be. For example, there are many things to consider when machining parts, like quality issues, time deadlines, and machining conditions. These items may be stressful when you look at everything at once, but if you form a plan with many individual goals to meet it will add up to the end goal of making a quality part and on time.

The CNC Machining industry has many specialized terms for tooling, machines, and other technology. Here is our list of things to know about machining with CNC equipment.     

• Blueprint Reading - The term blueprint reading means that someone interprets ideas that are on a drawing or print.

• CAD/CAM Software – CAD is the acronym for Computer Aided Design. CAM is the acronym for Computer Aided Manufacturing. They are computer software that are used in the manufacturing industry.

• Caliper – A measuring tool that is used to measure internal and/ or external dimensions on machined parts.

The precise symmetry of a metal shaft, the refined finish on a custom component, and the intricate detailing of mechanical parts are frequently products of lathe operation. In contemporary manufacturing, CNC turning, which represents the computer-controlled advancement of traditional lathe machining, serves as a foundational technique in precision engineering.

Since 2015, I have closely observed the manufacturing industry’s ongoing struggle with employment shortages. Despite numerous programs designed to address this issue, most operate at a level that is too broad, missing the specific needs of local communities. I believe the solution lies in fostering simple, direct communication and collaboration at the local level, led by industry champions who can empower stakeholders to take meaningful action.