PODCAST: AMBA Chicago Talks Workforce Development Challenges and Strategies
Members of the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA) Chicago Chapter discuss the chapter’s workforce development strategies and more.
Five years and counting… That’s how long the Chicago Chapter of the American Mold Builders Association has been concentrating its efforts and resources on educating students, parents, teachers and councilors about the many rewarding career opportunities available in the moldmaking industry. This was also the fifth year of its successful Supplier Night fundraising event, which benefits its Education Committee’s programs.
In 2014, the Chicago Chapter board established its Education Committee—all based on the excitement and urgency of members who watched a video, produced by Creative Technology Corp., featuring a student-run company called Cardinal Manufacturing, a vocational manufacturing program formed by Craig Cegielski, an inspired instructor at Eleva-Strum High School in Strum, Wisconsin.
“At least 15, maybe 20, people signed up that night to be on this committee after seeing the video because that video was extremely inspiring,” Francine Petrucci, president of B A Die Mold Inc. (Aurora, Illinois), says.
Chuck Klingler, vice president of sales at Janler Corp. and current Chicago Chapter chair, adds, “It was inspiring because all of us who were present at this meeting felt the vacuum. We could see it, on a weekly basis, someone retiring and no one coming in.” He says that some shops are gone today because they did not address this problem in time. The committee was established to help.
The committee is going strong today, with dedicated shop owners and employees involved on many levels, all with a unified mission to promote the positive career path that is advanced manufacturing. “It is important for Chicagoland moldmakers to come together to do whatever we can to engage parents, councilors and students and show them that modern manufacturing is innovative, it’s fun, it’s challenging and it’s rewarding,” Petrucci, who was the chapter’s chair and founder of the committee, says.
Take a listen to this approximately 35-minute podcast and learn more about how the committee stays inspired, how it has continued to drive fundraising in order to continue promoting careers in moldmaking at trade events, school career events, job fairs and more.
For more Manufacturing Alliance podcasts with MMT, click here.
Related Content
-
Tackling a Mold Designer Shortage
Survey findings reveal a shortage of skilled mold designers and engineers in the moldmaking community, calling for intervention through educational programs and exploration of training alternatives while seeking input from those who have addressed the issue successfully.
-
MMT Chats: American Mold Builders Association on Best Practices for Employee Attraction and Hiring
MoldMaking Technology Editorial Director Christina Fuges sits down with AMBA’s Managing Director Kym Conis and the Director of Strategic Execution Rachael Pfenninger to discuss its Employee Attraction and Hiring Playbook and the Workforce Development Task Force. This episode is brought to you by ISCAR with New Ideas for Machining Intelligently.
-
MMT Chats: Giving Back by Answering the Moldmaking Education Need
MoldMaking Technology Editorial Director Christina Fuges checks in with Bruce Cateon, an executive advisor at OASIC Consulting. Bruce started out in moldmaking, eventually becoming an industry consultant and taking time to work on his passion project the “Injection Mold Design Handbook” as a way of giving back to the industry that has given him so much. This episode is brought to you by ISCAR with New Ideas for Machining Intelligently.
