PODCAST: AMBA Chicago Talks Workforce Development Challenges and Strategies

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.

 

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