From Bootcamp to Career: How METAL and Laborup are Rebuilding America’s Manufacturing Workforce

METAL, led by IACMI – The Composites Institute®, and funded by the Department of War’s IBAS Program, was built to revitalize American manufacturing through hands-on training. Now, in a new partnership with hiring platform Laborup, METAL is connecting aspiring metal workers with the jobs forging America’s future.

For anyone eager to build a high-energy, high-impact career with real earning potential, there’s no shortage of opportunity in metal manufacturing. It’s exciting work that rewards precision, grit and problem-solving — and America needs more people ready to step into it.

As President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy pushes to rebuild America’s industrial base, manufacturing demand is rising fast. At the same time, Baby Boomers are retiring at record rates, leaving critical workforce gaps across the metal industry. By 2033, nearly 4 million manufacturing jobs could be available nationwide.

Manufacturers need to hire — fast. Yet workforce shortages and ineffective recruiting are slowing efforts to fill the jobs that the nation’s supply chain and armed forces directly depend on.

Together, METAL and Laborup, creator of the artificial intelligence (AI) software empowering America’s most critical workforce needs, are closing the employment gap by training future metal workers and helping manufacturers connect with skilled talent faster.

Step 1: Train the Next Generation of Metal Workers

Jonga, a tech entrepreneur and chemical engineer, said his first time in a foundry felt surreal. The blasts of heat, sparks and piles of newly formed metal reminded him of his time working on an oil rig.

“You know the feeling you have when you’re standing in front of an ocean? You feel small. Being in a foundry almost feels the same,” Jonga said. “Once you’re in the industry, there’s no leaving. This thing happens to you when you experience and see that.”

Jonga has also experienced the frustrations and pitfalls of working for manufacturers short on skilled trades people. Million dollar projects halt or fall behind, not because teams can’t hire engineers, but because they struggle to find qualified metalcasters, machinists, welders and fabricators.

“Even now, as we work with companies doing critical work for our military, the government and in energy, they don’t have a shortage of work. It’s a shortage of people,” he explained.

But how do you get skilled trades people in the foundry door? Welcome them in.

Through K-12 workshops and university bootcamps, METAL introduces students and career seekers to modern metalcasting and forging careers. Participants can complete METAL’s free online training before attending immersive, in-person bootcamps led by professional metallurgists and manufacturing experts across the country.

For nearly a week, bootcamp participants gain hands-on experience in sand casting design and pouring processes. The trainees pound sand into molds, learn CAD software, pour molten metal, and machine finished parts. Participants leave with their own metal creations, foundational metalcasting and forging skills, and a clearer picture of promising careers in aerospace, automotive and defense manufacturing.

High school student Yash Babar said the bootcamp introduced him to careers in foundry operations, quality testing, and casting production that he didn’t know existed before.

“It gave me a ton of exposure,” Babar said about the bootcamp. “It showed me that I don’t have to have a desk job when I grow up. I could be doing something with my hands, I could be creating something. It opened up a new perspective.”

As more than half of Millennials (63%) and Gen Z (65%) worry about AI eliminating jobs, apprenticeships and skills-based trades are becoming more attractive to younger workers.

“The public is on high alert,” said Dr. Vasileios Maroulas, Director of AI Tennessee. “Technological innovation and workforce demands are now outpacing the size of our workforce and the average worker’s skill set.”

Jonga believes AI should help workers access opportunity — not replace them.

“Frankly, there’s millions of job openings in manufacturing, so there’s a lot to be done,” Jonga said. “AI is how we can amplify people and get them in the best role for them.”

Now, thanks to Laborup, bootcamp participants won’t just leave METAL’s training with new skills and potential. They’ll also have direct access to a tool and resources designed to help them launch careers in manufacturing.

Step 2: Turn Training Into Real Career Opportunities

Billions of people use popular platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed to search for jobs every day. But Jonga said most networking platforms were built for office workers behind computers — not foundry workers operating 2,000°F furnaces or climbing 20-foot molds before a pour.

Laborup is different.

Through AI-powered technology, Laborup connects manufacturers with vetted, skilled workers five to ten times faster than traditional staffing agencies. Trades professionals can start by creating a free profile and speaking their job history and skills into the app. Laborup’s voice AI takes it from there, generating a resume and job profile recruiters can quickly evaluate. Once a profile is complete, the app begins matching workers with manufacturing opportunities aligned with their experience, skills and wage expectations.

“We wanted to build something a 65-year-old welder or metal worker can use just as easily as a 17-year-old machinist,” Jonga said. “With Laborup, someone can make a resume from a conversation. We want to make it that simple.”

Since launching two years ago, Laborup has connected with more than 100,000 skilled workers while helping manufacturers cut hiring costs by more than 50%. According to company data, workers using the platform earn about 30% more in their next role on average.

“I was a little skeptical at first, but wow was I wrong,” a senior CNC machinist from Oak Ridge, Tennessee said about Laborup. “The platform itself is easy to use, but also the people behind it are easy to reach and help you along the way. It’s awesome to see something built for us.”

A maintenance machinist from Knoxville, Tennessee added, “Finding high-paying manufacturing jobs is hard. Laborup is making it easy and putting us workers first.”

Laborup also offers in-app career coaching and interview preparation. Jonga said his team works with companies from small machine shops to Fortune 500s to better understand the technical and soft skills companies look for in manufacturing hires. Looking ahead, he hopes to use video and virtual reality to give workers a firsthand look inside modern foundries.

“How can we bring the career resources that a person on Vanderbilt’s campus or University of Tennessee’s campus has to a worker in rural Pennsylvania?” Jonga asked. “AI really breaks down the barriers for this workforce to interact, but also for training and career prep.”

Step 3: Help Modern Manufacturers Hire Faster and Smarter

Manufacturers are embracing Laborup, too, noticing the app’s top talent.

When aerospace and defense manufacturer Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering (ORT-E) needed a better way to hire qualified machinists and engineers, President Steve Mullins decided to try Laborup. The app’s speed, convenience and rigorous applicant screening process helped ORT-E reduce staffing costs while identifying candidates more likely to stay long-term.

“By the time Laborup sends me someone, I already know they’re a good fit,” Mullins said. “I’d be afraid to tell my competitors about Laborup. They’d get an edge on me.”

With METAL, Jonga said Laborup is greasing America’s metal manufacturing pipeline — helping trained bootcamp participants move from the classroom into high-demand manufacturing careers.

“At the end of the day, we want to create more skilled workers and revitalize metal working,” Jonga said. “But it will take everyone — training programs, the government, employers and platforms like ours — to make this work and achieve everything the U.S. wants to achieve.”

Ready to forge a new career? Start METAL’s free online training and visit our events page to attend the next METAL bootcamp or workshop near you.

Create your Laborup profile today by downloading the app in the Apple Store or on Google Play.

Industrial Talk: Dr. Paul Lynch with Penn State METAL Program

Check out this episode of Industrial Talk featuring Penn State Associate Professor Dr. Paul Lynch.

Scott Mackenzie hosts the Industrial Talk podcast, celebrating industry professionals and their contributions. In this episode, he interviews Dr. Paul Lynch, who oversees the Metallurgical Engineering Trade Apprenticeship and Learning (METAL) program at Penn State Erie. Dr. Lynch discusses the importance of manufacturing in Erie, Pennsylvania, and the METAL program’s role in training the next generation of skilled workers. He emphasizes the need for hands-on training and collaboration between industry and academia to address the workforce shortage. The program aims to inspire interest in manufacturing careers and provide practical skills through boot camps and apprenticeships. Dr. Lynch also highlights the upcoming new center for manufacturing competitiveness at Penn State Erie.

Uniting Small Manufacturers: Q&A With Russell Winter, Founder of US MFG

Russell Winter has spent most of his life on a machine shop floor.

As a third-generation tool and die maker, Winter cut his teeth at his grandfather’s company in Illinois, where he learned how to finish die castings and machine precision parts. What began as a small tool and die operation in the 1970s has evolved into Center Tool Co., the milling, turning and machining company Winter leads today.

But Winter wasn’t handed ownership of his family’s business — he had to earn it. Under the guidance of his father, Allan, the second CEO, Winter spent years mastering mills, CNC machines, CAD design software, welding and part repair. Like many manufacturers, he learned a few lessons the hard way, spending late nights on the shop floor making up for early-days mistakes.

Now 32, Winter is president of Center Tool Co., a champion for small businesses and founder of US MFG, a network that helps small metal manufacturers grow, scale operations and pass ownership to America’s next generation of industrial entrepreneurs.

At a recent METAL bootcamp, Winter spoke to us about his founder journey, the future of the metal industry — from CNC machining and precision tooling to metalcasting and forging careers — and how US MFG is reinforcing the manufacturing community for long-term success.

Listen to this interview (15min)

Why did you launch US MFG and how is US MFG helping small metal manufacturers grow?

Russell Winter: My story started with Center Tool, but then it led to US MFG, which is now what I spend most of my time on. After I bought the business from my dad in 2019, I started having more conversations with other owners of small businesses. I realized all these guys are retiring, they’re aging out of the workforce.

My dad’s generation was told, “You got to take over the family business. You’re the only one that’s going to do it.”

My generation was told, “Go to school, join the military, do what you have a passion for.” Those of us that grew up in family businesses saw how much stress it was running and managing it. So for good reasons, I think a lot of this generation hasn’t taken over family businesses. I was realizing that could be a problem.

What happens to all these companies that are owned by Baby Boomers looking to retire and no one is going to take them over? That got my wheels turning back in 2019 when I was having those conversations and that eventually led me to starting US MFG.

We built software that allows small businesses to connect with each other and streamline their operations and workloads between companies. What we realized was being a small business, you can easily get backlogged or easily be dead and have no work — there’s a lot of fluctuation. When we have two companies that work together, they can help balance their workloads.

Right now we’re focused on getting small manufacturers cybersecure so they can get into defense work. Then the platform is built to start getting them into the defense industrial base, get them more work and make them healthy. Succession I think will follow a healthy company.

What challenges did you face while building US MFG?

Russell Winter: I started it with the mission mindset of saving small shops and good jobs in small communities because that’s where I grew up. We wear steel toe boots and flannels and we like to go fishing and we’re not looking to be billionaires, but we want a fair salary or hourly rate and flexibility. So I started it with that intention and I thought if we built this software, we could raise money and buy all these small shops. It took me a few years. I was homeschooled, grew up on a farm, and grew up in the shop. There were a lot of things that I had to learn the hard way.

One of those things was, is it even worth buying small shops? Are they a good investment? It was a painful realization for me because I felt more of the mission drawn to buying these companies than the financial outcome. And I realized that a lot of them are not investible.

If they’re old and have depreciated equipment and old buildings and they’re making an 8% margin at the end of the year, it’s not an attractive investment. So how do you raise money to go buy those and say you’re going to pay back investors and buy new machines?

Then I had to refocus and tackle it by saying, “Well, let’s get these shops more work, and then they’ll grow and be healthy.” That’s how you can help sustain them.

I think there is a need for aggregating the capacity that small manufacturers have. A lot of us are operating one shift a week, 40 hours, probably utilizing half of the machines we have on the floor. So there’s a lot of unused capacity in these businesses. If you could get them to work together, even just on a platform level, you could utilize them more for bigger contracts.

We’re at the point where we have this software, we got into defense work on our own as a three person shop and got all our certifications. We know that we can help other people do it, but we’re at the stage where we need to raise money or get enough capital so we can hire a team to fully build US MFG out and expand it.

What challenges are small metal manufacturers in the U.S. facing today?

Russell Winter: I think one of them is that small manufacturers are really good at making parts. That’s what they want to spend their time on, not fighting to get work.

On the defense side, with cybersecurity certifications and requirements, when we did it, I basically spent my full time figuring out the compliance side, and my other buddy built the software, and my other one was doing the machining. It’s a lot to expect a small manufacturer to either be able to afford to hire someone for $100,000 to get compliant or to dedicate all their time to that when they’re already trying to fight for work. I think if they had more work and a better idea of what type of work best suited their facility, they would do great at making parts.

Another challenge is, culturally, a lot of people talk about how it’s hard to hire, and I’m probably not the best person to speak for it because we have four people. I’ve probably hired four people in my life. It’s never been an issue for me to find those people, but I’ve only hired four. So I think a big part of the hiring issue, though, has to do with culture and how do you attract new employees? It’s your company culture. That’s one of the top three selling points for how to attract people nowadays, and a lot of shops need to update their culture. They need to be a little bit more relevant and flexible, and there are plenty that are doing it, and they’re hiring people.

I would say let’s get more work, get your culture healthy, and then you’ll have the people to do it.

How can metal manufacturers attract more work and talent?

Russell Winter: On the culture side of things, I think something that would be very helpful for young people coming in is having a career roadmap. Our local high school has a shop program. By the time they get out, they could already have three or four years of hands-on programming and machining. By the time they get to employment, we probably already worked with them for a year or two. We did that with one apprentice. We brought them on while they were still in high school. But give them a roadmap — don’t just say, “Hey, you’re going to do this for the next 20 years you’re here.” Because they probably won’t be there for 20 years. But if you say, “This is what we need you for now, if you learn these skills, this is the kind of raise you’ll get,” and build something out that shows them the future of achieving what they want out of life.

And be open to new ideas. Even if you think it’s a bad idea, be open to it as long as it’s not going to be a catastrophic failure. Allowing someone to fail is really good for retention and growth, and isn’t that what you want?

I know that because that is how my dad ran the shop when I was growing up. I made a pretty big mistake one time and we had to scrap 10 grand worth of parts. I sent a part after heat treating, we machined it, hard machined it, sent it out. Normally, we send it out for nitriding because they were mold tooling inserts, and I sent it out for heat treating again. So when it came back, it was warped and we couldn’t fix them. All I did was sign the wrong stuff on the order sheet for the treatment.

When I realized that, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I was like, “Oh, Dad, I just screwed up.”

He said, “All right, you just got to go remake them.”

I almost wanted him to blow up at me because I felt so bad about it. Nope, I just slept at the shop in front of the machine and made the parts. I got it done, but that taught me responsibility.

What made you want to join METAL’s metal manufacturing bootcamp?

Russell Winter: I first heard about METAL’s bootcamp at Reindustrialize last year. I think this is such a huge opportunity when you have free training open to everybody, and getting into a career that gives you a lifestyle you want. I just had to see it for myself.

The METAL bootcamp being about casting and forging is outside of what I normally work on with machining and fabrication. That was a lot to learn, but I was like, “I wish I knew this already,” because it applies. There’s a lot of crossover. Even on the machining side, I learned about diamond turning. There’s always something to learn.

How do programs like METAL help manufacturers overcome workforce challenges?

Russell Winter: I definitely think more education and more awareness of the opportunities in manufacturing solves challenges because a big part of it is that people genuinely don’t understand it and don’t know about it. So bringing awareness to manufacturing and working with schools and getting kids that aren’t currently in the school system into the program, I think that works to solve it.

Mostly I’m looking at METAL as a huge resource to direct people when they’re not sure what they want to do. It’s just like, “What are you going to risk?” It’s a week. Learn about it and experience it, whether you’re from that background or not. You’ve got nothing to lose to learn about this opportunity. I think people will find it more interesting than you think. It’s pretty fascinating.

Why is rebuilding metal manufacturing critical to national security?

Russell Winter: There’s a certain level of industrial base that you need to maintain so that you can produce things that you need. You don’t need to make everything, right? I think there’s reasons to buy from other countries and to have allies. But on the national security side, if you’re playing on the global stage and you have other powers that are not aligned with your interests, you need to hold your own. If you don’t have an industrial base that can support holding your own, you lose. On the defense side, that’s very important. On the other side of national security, we saw with COVID we didn’t make a lot of the personal protective equipment. Well, when you need it, when the world needs it, whoever makes it keeps it.

There’s a lot of different ways that applies, but it’s a foundational sector of the economy and it’s been dying here for generations. Because I used to be focused on buying the small shops, people have reached out like, “Hey, I want to buy a small company. I want to buy a manufacturer.” That’s great there’s a lot of interest in it, but it helps to understand manufacturing before you want to own a company. They should come to METAL.

What excites you most about the future of the metal industry?

Russell Winter: It’s weird growing up and it never really being talked about. It was kind of like a hidden career. People didn’t talk about it like they were proud of it. But I see on Instagram and X people who have this lifestyle where they afford their house, they bought a car, they have a family. It’s like, “Oh wow, they’re 30 years old and they did this. What did you do? ‘I’m a welder. I’m a pipe fitter. I’m a machinist.’”

It really excites me that there’s more awareness of the need because that’s a lot of opportunity. I have little brothers, and their Gen Z uncertainty in careers is a big deal right now. I think these careers will be around for a long time. This is a healthy pathway to take for a while.

So mostly the opportunity that’s out there, and seeing that policies and government are getting behind manufacturing now — that’s what’s needed. That’s one of the main reasons why it diminished. As a country, we’re moving to support it and METAL is a direct result of that. This is the government saying, “We’re serious about this. We will pay for people to come and get trained just to show them the opportunity that’s here.” I see it as a pivotal moment in policy where it’s like things are changing, so that’s exciting to me.

Ready to build your future in metal? Start METAL’s free online training, explore hands-on bootcamps and discover careers in metalcasting and forging. Visit our events page to find a bootcamp near you.

Connect with Russell Winter on LinkedIn, X, or reach out to him at usmfg.com.

FAQs

What does a tool and die maker do?

A tool and die maker builds and repairs the tools used to manufacture metal parts, including molds, dies and fixtures. Tool and die makers often use precision machining, CNC machining, CAD software and welding to create highly accurate parts.

What is CNC machining in the metal industry?

CNC machining is a manufacturing process that uses computer-controlled machines to cut and shape metal. It is commonly used by metal manufacturers to make precise parts for industries like defense, automotive and aerospace.

Why are small manufacturers important to the metal industry?

Small manufacturers play a major role in the U.S. metal industry because they produce specialized parts, support local jobs and strengthen the domestic supply chain.

Are there good careers in the metal industry?

Yes. Careers in the metal industry include tool and die maker, machinist, welder, CNC operator, manufacturing engineer, and skilled roles in metalcasting and forging such as foundry technician, patternmaker, melt operator, forge press operator and metallurgist. Many of these metal manufacturing careers offer strong pay, hands-on work, long-term stability and opportunities for advancement across industries like defense, automotive and aerospace.

What is the difference between metalcasting and forging?

Metalcasting creates parts by pouring molten metal into a mold, while forging shapes solid metal using compressive force. Both are essential processes in modern manufacturing and offer strong career opportunities across defense, automotive and aerospace industries.

***

The Skills Gap Threatening America’s Foundries: How Keystone Development Partnership Plans to Fix It

Keystone Development Partnership (KDP) launched 20 years ago after a massive skills gap derailed Pennsylvania’s transportation industry. Now, America’s metal industry faces a similar situation. An unprecedented labor gap has emerged, and KDP, Jobs for the Future (JFF) and METAL are working fast to repair it.

For the first time since WWII, America needs more metal workers.

By 2033, there could be nearly 4 million manufacturing jobs available across the country. But without stronger training pipelines, almost half those jobs could go unfilled, threatening national defense and U.S. supply chains.

An aging workforce and reindustrialization have lit a fire under metal manufacturers — and the nation.

“American prosperity and security depend on the development and promotion of competence,” President Donald Trump wrote in the 2025 National Security Strategy. “Cultivating American industrial strength must become the highest priority of national economic policy.”

But the most experienced metal workers are tired of keeping the irons hot.

Millions of Baby Boomers are retiring, or trying to. Debra Killmeyer, a KDP project consultant and former dean of workforce at the Community College of Allegheny County, says labor shortages keep metal manufacturers and their employees under strain.

“I talk to companies with people who’ve been there 44 and 46 years about how they can’t retire because they don’t have their replacement,” Killmeyer said.

Since 2000, workers 55 and older have been the fastest-growing age group in the workforce, according to the United States Census Bureau. In manufacturing, the shift has been more pronounced. In 2022, 40% of employers had workforces made up of at least one-quarter older workers, nearly triple the rate of two decades earlier. States with older populations, including Maine, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois, rely more on workers who are 55 and older.

Source: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2025/12/older-workers.html

“That is where apprenticeships help,” Killmeyer said.

In partnership with METAL, a program led by IACMI – The Composites Institute®, with funding from the Department of War’s IBAS Program, and Jobs for the Future, KDP is forging Pennsylvania’s next generation of metal workers through registered apprenticeships.

History Repeats Itself

This is not the first time KDP Executive Director John Tkach has watched an essential industry fall behind.

In the 1990s, Tkach worked for the Public Transit Agency in Pittsburgh as Pennsylvania’s buses underwent a technological transformation. The old General Motors “fishbowl” buses were being replaced with higher-tech Neoplan models. Before long, more than 1,000 Neoplan buses were on the roads.

“One day, buses became computers on wheels,” Tkach said. For years, the buses stayed under warranty and went back to the manufacturer for repairs. When the warranties expired, transit mechanics were suddenly responsible for maintaining machines they had never been trained to understand.

“When they went out of warranty, these vehicles had between 500,000 and a million miles on them,” Tkach explained. “Then it was the transit worker who had to take care of it, and they didn’t have the experience or knowledge.”

Today’s metal industry faces the same challenge.

Automation is creating safer, more accessible foundries — and deepening the industry’s skills gap. More training is required to operate the robotic arms, automated pouring systems, and autonomous cranes that now do the heavy lifting.

“It’ll always be a process with people,” said Dr. Robert Voigt, a professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering at Penn State University. “But the demands on the workforce have gone up in terms of the application of knowledge at all levels.”

In 2000, Tkach conducted a skills gap analysis for the Public Transit Agency, learning what skills the mechanics and technicians needed to repair modern buses and developed a training curriculum. Soon, Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry wanted in-depth labor research conducted for other industries. Five years later, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, a statewide federation of labor unions, launched the Keystone Development Partnership.

“My passion is to ensure businesses have the skilled workers they need and workers have the opportunities,” Tkach said.

Today, KDP is the driving force behind Pennsylvania’s manufacturing ecosystem, connecting employers and workers to the training resources they need to thrive.

Forging the Future Together

KDP has partnered with Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit transforming education and workforce systems, to strengthen manufacturing apprenticeships for nearly a decade. They’ve expanded industrial manufacturing technician programs across the state, supporting almost 900 workers in everything from metal fabrication to food processing to bio-medical production. In total, KDP has managed program administration for 3,600 apprentices.

Brian Paterniti, the director of workforce development of The Manufacturers’ Association, said one benefit to working with KDP is its extensive community network, including union and non-union companies, local workforce development boards, job centers, training providers, and community organizations.

KDP also offers the Registered Apprenticeship Navigator program, a registered apprenticeship program that prepares people to assist employers and other organizations in developing and registering apprenticeships across Pennsylvania. So far, KDP has trained 150 people through the program.

“Apprenticeships are not easy. It’s difficult. It’s a lot for the apprentices and the employer,” Paterniti said. “KDP, JFF and METAL make it easy. John and Deb are right there, holding the manufacturers’ hands.

METAL’s partnership with JFF and KDP is helping manufacturers do more than fill open jobs. It’s offsetting training costs and revitalizing a metal workforce that’s built to last. Training an apprentice without experience can cost nearly $9,000, according to one Department of Labor study. That doesn’t include the price of an apprentice’s travel, salary and equipment.

Through METAL and JFF, casting, forging and plate rolling companies across the country can receive assistance in developing an apprenticeship or other work-based learning programs. This funding is also eligible for training equipment and instructor costs, curriculum development, program design and implementation, and support services for apprentices.

“We’re seeing a growing gap in the workforce. Experienced, highly skilled workers are retiring, and too few younger workers have the training needed to step into those roles,” Tkach explained. “Employers are looking for quick fixes, but the real solution is a long‑term strategy. That’s what registered apprenticeships provide — a reliable pipeline to develop your own skilled workers.”

More than 65% of manufacturers say attracting and retaining talent is their top business challenge. Apprenticeships are solving this problem — and introducing younger generations to career options that don’t require college. According to the Department of Labor, 94% of people who complete a registered apprenticeship stay employed with average salaries of $84,000 a year.

“Apprenticeships reduce the risk for the employer with a tried and true system,” Killmeyer said. “With METAL’s funds, I’m able to sit down with casting and forging companies and take the time to listen to each of their challenges and help them find solutions.”

More than anything, foundries need people who are ready to be hands-on in casting America’s future.

Your Apprenticeship Starts Here

Tkach and Killmeyer have spent decades navigating workforce challenges for one reason: apprenticeships create careers — and change lives.

KDP’s network reaches veterans, immigrants and refugees, women in trades, formerly incarcerated individuals, and people in addiction recovery through community partners and apprenticeship sponsors. With decades of experience, Tkach’s team is connecting underrepresented communities to meaningful work in metalcasting and forging.

“It’s been really nice helping populations that may not otherwise know or have been exposed to these types of careers,” Killmeyer said. “Being able to do that makes a difference.”

Tkach will never forget one apprentice he met through Pennsylvania’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, which helps people with disabilities enter the workforce. The apprentice, a young man, was eager to pursue a career in metal manufacturing, but needed additional support in the classroom.

“He said, ‘I’m not stupid. I learn differently. This apprenticeship program was exactly what I needed,’” Tkach remembered.

The apprentice told Tkach he never imagined he would have a career — or a house and a family of his own. Today, he has all three. His employer is even considering him for a supervisor role.

“All because of an apprenticeship,” Tkach said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Ready to forge a stronger workforce? Learn how JFF can help your company implement an apprenticeship or other work-based learning programs here.

Cast your career in metal. Register for our free online training, then visit our events page to attend the next METAL bootcamp near you.

If I Can Cast, You Can Too: A First-Timer’s Experience in the Foundry

Nothing could have prepared me for my first time in a foundry.

Yet there I was at Erie Bronze and Aluminum Co., mesmerized by the sound of grinding machines, the sharp smell of metallic dust, and the giddy energy of everyone around me — all waiting in line to pour their first casting.

One metal worker, both hands wrapped around the heavy castings he cleaned, smiled warmly at the line of newcomers. “I’ve been there,” his eyes, filled with knowing anticipation, seemed to say.

Staring inside the massive ceramic crucible glowing red like a dragon’s mouth, I tried not to think about what I was about to do.

“I’m nervous,” I said to Russell Winter, a third-generation tool and die maker still dressed in his silver protective gear, raising my voice over the foundry’s symphonic churn.

“My arms shook the whole time,” he admitted, “mostly from nerves.” Great, I thought, staring up at the well-over-six-foot-tall man. I flexed my biceps — reminding myself they existed — attached to my spindly 5-foot-6 frame. Would I even be able to hold the ladle? Let alone manage a ladle filled with molten aluminum?

I heard the voice of Crystal Bentley from IACMI – The Composites Institute, in the back of my mind. On the flight to Pennsylvania she said, “In every class I’ve been to, someone has spilled the metal.”

Not me, not today, I prayed. Before fear held me back, someone piled a fire-resistant coat, gloves, leg and foot covers, and a massive face shield into my arms. “Your turn.”

I stood there like a toddler as student teachers from Penn State Behrend quickly and efficiently strapped everything onto me, tucking the protective gear over exposed clothing and tugging to make sure it all fit right. The oversized stuffed gloves turned my hands into teddy bear paws.

“How do you grip anything in these?” I said. A voice beyond my face shield responded, “Tightly.”

My Journey to the Foundry

Getting to Erie Bronze and Aluminum Co. took two flights from Knoxville and Charlotte and a 15-minute car ride. Finding my way to metalcasting took more than a year, and that journey began with METAL.

My trade is writing. The most gratifying part of my job is listening to the stories people share with me. For a moment, I see the world through their eyes, gain an understanding of their experiences, and find the words to pass it on. Then, I find the next story.

But writing about the metal industry felt different — I haven’t been ready to move on. I’ve spent the past year writing blogs for METAL, a program funded by the Department of War’s IBAS Program to revitalize metalcasting and forging in America through hands-on K-12 workshops, metallurgical bootcamps and apprenticeships.

I’ve seen the enthusiastic glow of students learning the trade; been inspired by the earnest dedication of the metallurgists reviving it; and felt the passion of recruiters who’d do anything – even babysit – to make sure apprentices succeed.

Here’s what I’ve learned along the way: Metalcasting is doing more than offering people careers — it’s changing lives.

For example, Georgia Southern University student Robert Myers became a welder and machinist after high school. But when a car accident put his career on hold, he decided to return to school, where he discovered GSU’s metalcasting program and hands-on internships.

“I’m so glad I found metalcasting when I did,” Myers said. “This industry is one of the blocks the world is built on. We need people who are willing to keep it alive.”

Then there are service members like Airman Savana Ohlenburger, learning the skills needed to support U.S. aircraft and weapons production; and Barron Industries’ Michael Price, a quality coordinator who stepped into the metal industry for the first time during COVID in search of a better way to support his family.

Again and again, I’ve heard these stories – often holding back my own tears during interviews, moved and stunned by the opportunities manufacturing jobs are offering Americans once again.

Why didn’t anyone tell me? I’ve thought. People should know these jobs exist.

“Have you tried it before,” interviewees would ask, “pour metal?” Sheepishly, I’d shake my head no.

“You should,” they’d say. Maybe.

America’s Blue Collar Comeback

There’s no denying the future of American manufacturing is strong. By 2033, the country could need nearly 4 million manufacturing workers to support its defense and supply chains. However, half of those jobs could go unfilled if manufacturers can’t train new employees fast, Deloitte reported.

At the same time, “white collar” office jobs across tech, government and other industries continue to get slashed. In 2025, the information sector lost 5,000 jobs on average per month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These included jobs at software, publishing, broadcasting, telecommunications, data processing and web companies. Tech giants like Amazon and Meta laid off thousands in 2025 and early 2026, with more cuts likely to come. Federal employment continues to slide, down 11% since October 2024.

Some days, scrolling on LinkedIn is downright depressing. Layoff victims are now competing with artificial intelligence, corporate offshoring and a ruthlessly competitive job pool. Professionals across marketing, human resources, administrative roles and sales are begging for interviews. But the jobs just aren’t there.

As someone in the “information” industry, diversifying my skills started to seem like a wise idea.

Breaking Metal – And Barriers

More than 20 blogs and dozens of interviews later, I decided it was my turn to experience the foundry. Doubts I’ve carried my entire life lingered: I’m not good at math. I couldn’t make more than a C in chemistry class. I have no hand-eye coordination, and I’m clumsy. When I told my family I planned to attend a casting and forging bootcamp, my sister laughed. “Can I come watch?” she said.

I share that to say, if you feel like an unlikely candidate for metal manufacturing, you’re not alone.

Thankfully, the encouragement from everyone I’d met in the industry overpowered preconceptions about myself and today’s manufacturing environments. Sure, people said it was dirty and the hours could be long. But they also said it was innovative, fulfilling and often thrilling – watching electric arcs illuminate the inside of a furnace, or flames flash up from sand molds during a pour.

More than anything, the sparks – and camaraderie – around metalcasting and forging sounded fun. So, I took METAL’s free online training, laced up my leather boots and prepared for the experience of a lifetime.

For two days, I joined real metal workers, manufacturing owners and industry leaders in Erie, Pennsylvania to learn new skills for the nation’s most urgent jobs. We learned how to use SolidCast and FlowCast software to simulate the time, metal quantities, and cooling patterns of pouring a casting.

We tested the strength of iron, aluminum and other metal materials using tensile and hardness testing machines. All metals and metal manufactured-parts undergo rigorous quality testing. After all, lives depend on it.

“Would this be the type of test they’d use on steel beams before building a bridge?” I asked, watching the Tensile machine stretch a thin strip of metal to its breaking point. A quiet anticipation filled the room.

“Absolutely,” a student teacher responded. A minute later, the metal split with a loud “pop,” like uncorking a champagne bottle. Everyone jumped, some exclaimed, and we all laughed at ourselves.

The group also dabbled in mold design. We used Autodesk Fusion, a software for 2D and 3D CAD modeling, to turn simple lines and dots into drawings of real machined parts. Man, I thought, customizing my creations on the screen, I could have enjoyed this. If only I had known it was an option.

Then on a March morning, dressed in my shiny, silver suit, it was finally time to pour molten metal.

The Final Pour

“This one is going to be more complicated,” said Dr. Paul C. Lynch, an associate professor of industrial engineering, as I stepped up, death-gripping my empty ladle. I’d watched in patient awe as everyone in my group meticulously poured the lava-like aluminum into stein molds. No one had spilled a drop, and I was the last one up.

Dr. Lynch leaned in and shouted over the machines, “We are going to need the metal to cool in your ladle before it is poured. After your ladle is filled, we’re going to put a metal cooling block in it to try to bring the temperature down before you pour.”

I nodded, wordlessly, and turned to the metal worker who manned the crucible in protective wear that reminded me of the X-Files. He scooped molten aluminum into his ladle and gently transferred it into mine. I turned back to Dr. Lynch, slicing the air with the ladle’s heat.

“Swish it!” He said, and my arms attempted small, careful circles. His student came over with the cold stone and I went stock-still. He dunked it in the metal once, read the thermometer and shook his head. Again. Dunk, still not cool enough. I pinched my elbows into my abdomen and activated my core. I could not let go.

As I began to wonder how much longer I could hold, Dr. Lynch released me, “It’s cool enough! We can pour!”

I found the molds on the floor behind me. I was pouring spiral castings instead of steins, which explained the temperature difference. Cautiously, I overturned the liquid metal into the mold’s teacup-size hole. Dr. Lynch guided me. “Faster,” he encouraged. Seconds later, I finished pouring metal into three molds and returned my leftover aluminum to the crucible.

It was over – and the metal didn’t spill! My fears of tripping and setting the foundry on fire slipped away.

I returned to my group like a champion. Exhilaration and a sense of accomplishment clung to the warm air. We had all faced our fears. We overcame stigmas, passed down from parents and grandparents, about manufacturing work. We looked beyond gender, age and education to learn something new. We got our hands dirty. We took part in a process that civilizations are built on

And, much like any rat pack, we were sorry to see the moment end.

Nothing could have prepared me for my first time in a foundry — or for my next question:

When can I do that again?

Ready to explore a future in metal? Start METAL’s free online training and visit our events page to attend the next METAL bootcamp or workshop near you.

By: Amanda Freuler

Reindustrialize and Pour Some Metal

Heat.

It whooshed past me as big buckets of bubbling bronze moved through the air, tethered to a crane, with one large, silver-clothed man guiding them from one place to the next.

I wasn’t supposed to be exactly there. I should have been a foot back. The blast of heat caught me off guard, landing like a lurch in my stomach.

I stepped back, coming eye-to-wide-eye with a Penn State materials science instructor. He flailed his arms.

“You’re all everywhere!” he shouted.

We were. Me, holding my iPhone tightly and pleased with the last shot. Zach Glabman stood about two yards away with his film crew while Ken Spaulding of Volund Manufacturing captured beautiful stills with a high-end camera.

The Keystone Foundry men—the ones who actually did the work and didn’t just talk about it, like me—were foreboding. Literal giants of men: Andy, Stefan and Mike. Well over six feet and brooding. Happy, but brooding. They smirked at us as we took turns pouring little ladles of liquid metal into prepared molds that would become medallions. It was our reward for dipping our toes into the field of metallurgy.

We were visitors in their world, outsiders inside the Misty Mountains. Andy, Stefan and Mike didn’t know the mystique we felt as we cosplayed metalworkers. Well—some of us cosplayed. Most of this was boots-on-the-ground. Some of us had our heads in the clouds, dreaming and imagining ways to reindustrialize the country by changing hearts and minds.

I’m the latter. I have the privilege of being the hype-girl of metallurgy without the skill to actually do it. Until now, at least.

National Security Is At Stake

I moved away from certain death and toward Andy—not the Andy melting metal, a different one. This Andy had on an ACE hat that was very well worn, despite the fact that I knew it couldn’t be that old. Andy didn’t know this, but ACE is a sister program to the one I was there representing and was formed only five years ago. The goal there was to train people to become machinists. I was there for METAL, a program designed to train people to become metalworkers.

Why? Because the Department of War needs things built with metal, and there aren’t enough people who want to do it. Not only that, but the capability in general isn’t there.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Andy, yelling over the din of sirens and jittering equipment, immediately jumped to the heart of the problem.

“We’re starting to get a lot more work here because industry is finally coming back,” he bellowed. “This kind of work got moved overseas years ago.”

Keystone Foundry in Erie, Pennsylvania, has been in continuous operations since 1887 and is one of the oldest businesses in the city. Thanks in part to defense contracts, business is booming.

“The national security of our country is at stake here. I’m glad that our government recognizes it and is investing in this industry because it’s critical to our survival as a nation,” said Operations Manager Adam Scheloske as he gave us the safety talk before we went in to where the magic happens.

To get some background on Keystone Foundry, I had taken to Google before heading out there and clicked on “news.” All I found were obituaries of people who had worked there faithfully for decades.

Reindustrialize isn’t a word Apple recognizes. Resurrection is.

Quick context: I work for a manufacturing institute (IACMI) that leads workforce development programs in casting, forging and machining. We’re funded by the Department of War’s IBAS program to address workforce shortages in those industries.

I am not an engineer or metalworker by any stretch of the imagination and never have been, but I am acutely aware of the devastation wreaked on towns when our country began to offshore this type of work in the 1980s.

For this particular trip, I invited some friends in the reindustrialize space on X to attend a METAL bootcamp at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pennsylvania. These folks are what I consider micro-influencers; they write, and people respond. I did not expect nearly everyone I invited to say yes, but they did.

Echoes of the Past

The term reindustrialization actually isn’t new, despite its prominence in the manufacturing world right now thanks to people like Aaron Slodov of Atomic Industries and Ben Kohlmann—now the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, but previously CEO of the New American Industrial Alliance, the organization behind the Reindustrialize conference in Detroit. The word itself was coined by sociologist Amitai Etzioni during the manufacturing crises of the 1970s, when policymakers first began asking how the United States might rebuild the industrial capacity it had dismantled.

Kind of scary, right? We’ve been here before, just with a different cast of characters. The warnings were there the first time, too. We didn’t heed the voices crying in the wilderness.

There’s a movie called Wanderlust where a character always lists the names of the co-founders of his cult whenever he starts monologuing, and there’s a chance I’m about to do that, too. Because I think you’ll hear these names again in the future. Heed them.

Ken Spaulding, Russell Winter, Zach Glabman, Lana Smith, Jason Dicosimos, Eric Trulson, Jack Watson, Amanda Freuler Seals and Daniel Mitchell were all at this METAL bootcamp. Some are multi-generational factory owners, some are founders, some work purely in defense and some are hobbyists. Eric said I’m a good hype-girl, and I’m satisfied with that.

One conversation I had with my team at IACMI when I first came on board two years ago involved changing the narrative around these jobs being “dark, dirty and dangerous” to appeal more to Gen Z.

But… they kind of are.

And that’s not a bad thing.

Something Worth Doing

I was at Ellwood EQS, a steel melting facility, a few weeks ago and met one of their new hires. He was part of the teeming crew, which involves climbing up on molds as tall as 25 feet high to prepare them for the metal pour. These would go on to become large steel ingots. In fact, Ellwood is a leading supplier of steel ingots in North America.

Logan had worked there for four weeks when I met him. Before that, he had spent six years working for a logistics company—from home.

“It nearly killed me,” he told me later. “It wasn’t good for me to be home all the time. I came here because I wanted to do something worth doing, in the real world.”

“And you like it?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” he said with a smile, his face covered in black sand. “Oh, yeah. I don’t know if this specific position is what I’ll stick with, but this is where I want to be.”

The teeming position can be hard to keep filled, in part because humans tend to have a fear of heights. We were there to shoot GoPro and virtual reality footage that EQS could use at career fairs to give people an idea of what the job actually entails. I know there are some adrenaline junkies out there who would love it.

I don’t know if Logan knows this, but it can take five to ten years for people to reach the top of their craft in this world, according to Jack Watson. Jack is the fourth-generation owner of HFW Industries in Buffalo, New York, and is singularly focused not only on growing his own company, but on elevating manufacturing careers.

It’s that level of worker that’s hard to find—the one who already knows how to do what needs to be done. Nearly a quarter of the manufacturing workforce is over 55, and retirements are accelerating. With that goes the tribal knowledge. Our program introduces people to these careers, so there will be a healthy middle within a few years, but you can’t just inject knowledge into people.

Unless Elon comes up with a brain chip for that.

Russell Winter sees the same problem from a different angle. His grandfather started Center Tool in the 1970s making trim dies—the massive tools used to cut excess metal off die-cast parts. By the time Russell bought the company from his father in 2019, the shop had become more of a general precision machining operation, cutting aluminum, steel and plastic parts.

Around that time he started talking with other small manufacturers and noticed something troubling: many of them were nearing retirement, and their kids weren’t taking over the businesses the way previous generations had.

“What happens to all these companies,” he wondered, “when the owners retire and no one takes them over?”

That question eventually led him to start US MFG, a platform designed to help small manufacturers connect with one another—sharing work, balancing workloads, and helping smaller shops qualify for defense contracts. Small manufacturers, he explained, often swing between being overwhelmed with orders and sitting idle. Connecting them could smooth that out.

“If they just had more work,” he said, “they’d do great at making parts.”

These Guys Are Trailblazers

Now, you have to remember that in 2019, nobody was talking about reshoring or reindustrializing. Russell was. Homeschooled and raised on a farm, he began to question himself after the COVID years. He wasn’t getting much traction. He knew the country needed to bring back skilled jobs, but he questioned his vision. Was he too idealistic? Was it too late for America to become a country that makes things again?

Little did he know that across the country, small pockets of forward-thinking people were synchronistically dreaming about the same thing. Did you know that if you set off a hundred metronomes at different times, eventually they’ll all sync up?

Apparently it happens with people, too.

Standing there in Keystone Foundry, it was hard to believe there wasn’t work. The place felt alive.

Behind us, Nicole was busy making cores – another job that’s becoming more and more rare in the U.S. Around the corner Andy – the first Andy – was back at the blazing furnace grabbing red hot ingots with tongs and placing them on a rack. All this, despite the foundry being closed for the afternoon to make time for our visit.

At EQS, the 20-ton vacuum induction melting furnace would go off every 40 minutes, giving everybody a light and sound show that could convince a person a universe was being born. Cranes overhead, sirens going off, steam hissing over the surface of the metal, all part of a living and breathing ecosystem that makes the parts that build our world.

Reindustrialize might not be a word Apple recognizes.

But standing in a foundry while the metal flows, resurrection doesn’t seem like such a strange idea.

To start training online for free, visit www.metalforamerica.org or americascuttingedge.org.

Careers in High Gear: Tennessee School for the Deaf Students Learn Sand Casting with METAL

Sparks flew as students from Tennessee School for the Deaf turned a university foundry into their classroom. Through METAL’s hands-on workshop, eight high school students pounded sand molds, poured molten metal and discovered their potential in metal manufacturing.

METAL, led by IACMI – The Composites Institute®, with funding from the Department of War’s IBAS Program, introduces students, career seekers and communities to the possibilities of metalcasting and forging. Through hands-on K-12 workshops, metallurgical bootcamps and apprenticeships, METAL is training a workforce that’s prepared to forge America’s future.

Advisor and TSD Transition Coordinator Daniel Jerrolds believes there’s a bright future for students who are interested in metalcasting, forging and other trade careers.

“I’ve started calling trade programs the modern day ‘Gold Rush,’” Jerrolds said. “There are jobs. The demand is there. If you look at a lot of technical programs, the job force is aging out and we’re not keeping up.”

He’s right — the need for trained metal workers is urgent. By 2033, almost 4 million manufacturing jobs could be available in the U.S. without the workforce to fill half of them.

Jerrolds, who began his career at TSD nearly 20 years ago as the construction teacher, says he has a heart for connecting students with hands-on skills. One of his first jobs was welding. Jerrolds learned on-the-job with his dad, who was a contractor for railroads in Tennessee. Today, Jerrolds shows students how to build their futures. Starting in sixth grade, TSD’s students receive aptitude testing, career counseling and vocational rehabilitation guidance to find the best path after school. In 2025, every graduating student had a plan, from employment to technical programs and college enrollment – breaking the school’s record in post-grad placement rates.

“I saw a need for what we’re doing with this program,” Jerrolds added. “The sooner we can get students in the right programs, whether it’s welding, forging and casting or plumbing or HVAC, and expose them to these skills, the better.”

Thanks to METAL, Jerrolds has one more tool in his career-planning belt. Through the program’s free, hands-on metallurgical training for K-12 schools, he’s introducing students like Tyarius (Ty) Howard to fulfilling, stable careers in metal — before they graduate.

Eight students from Tennessee School for the Deaf joined metallurgists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to learn how to mold, cast and polish a finished casting — expanding their hands-on skills and career potential.

A Day In the Foundry

Ty Howard, 17, thought he wanted to become a welder. METAL’s workshop made up his mind.

Like Jerrolds, Howard’s dad taught him how to weld. Growing up, when the father and son retreated to the garage to work on the family car, Howard watched his father’s torch throw bright electric arcs.

“I was always interested in the sparks,” Howard said through a sign language interpreter. “It looked fun, so I started to learn and see how to make different shapes and lines. That was fascinating to me. Then I started wanting to become a welder with cars.”

As metal manufacturing returns to the U.S., the nation will need 320,000 skilled welding professionals in the next three years. The field includes boilermakers, sheet metal workers, iron and steel workers, metal fabricators, welders, machine operators and more. Welders earn an average salary of $55,600, with strong opportunities for advancement.

During the half-day workshop at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Howard explored new ways to spark his curiosity through metalcasting and forging. Howard and his classmates learned sand casting firsthand, using wooden letters as patterns to pack sand into a hollow mold. After melting aluminum to about 1,300°F, they poured the melted metal into the mold to create their first castings.

Howard cast a solid aluminum “T,” for Ty, small enough to fit in the palm of his mother’s hand.

“Mom was like, ‘Oh, I love it. I see you did a great job and it’s a really nice shape,’” Howard recalled her reaction after the workshop. “I showed her what I did to clean up the metal,” he added, filing down the rough edges by hand.

Isaac Murray, 17, said his favorite part of the workshop was forging: heating metal to a fire-red before hammering it into a desired shape. The finishing touch? Stamping it with a METAL logo.

“I was shocked we were going to get experience with molds and casting and learn in-depth information about different kinds of metals,” Murry said through the interpreter. “It would be a great opportunity for anybody.”

For Thomas Drye, a UT research associate who led the workshop with METAL, the goal is introducing students to careers in metal manufacturing they might not know about.

“When I was in high school, there weren’t a lot of experiences like this,” Drye said. In one study, almost 60% of Gen Z said they might have been interested in manufacturing careers if they’d been exposed to related opportunities in school.

“Now the kids know, ‘I’ve done casting. I know a little bit about what this is,’” Drye said. “They have familiarity if they go into a foundry and apply for a job. There are plenty of workarounds to support them on the job today. All you need is ambition and drive.”

Introducing deaf students to metal manufacturing also means addressing a key concern for employers: workplace accessibility.

Making Manufacturing Accessible

“How do we make it safe?” is the first question manufacturers ask Dr. Linda Bryant and James Mallory at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s Center for Workforce Development when hiring deaf and hard of hearing employees.

Established in 2025, the center connects deaf and hard of hearing people with in-demand technical jobs through training, job placement and transition support. It also helps employers and training programs like METAL create safe, inclusive manufacturing environments.

“My mantra has always been that the deaf and hard of hearing population is an untapped resource for companies and industries with vacancies or high demand,” said Bryant, the center’s director. “Should people open their minds and accept them into positions, employers find they’re very capable and valuable to the company and the economy.”

In the U.S., about 54% of deaf people are employed, compared to 70% of hearing people, according to the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes. The employment gap widens further for deaf people from minority racial and ethnic backgrounds.

However, accessibility in manufacturing is often possible through simple changes. Mallory, a professor and technical workforce development specialist, encourages trainers to use clear language, visual demonstrations and technology for communication when interpreters aren’t present. On the shop or foundry floor, blinking lights and mirrors can help enhance safety. In facilities built with industry best practices in mind, changes may not be needed for deaf and hard of hearing employees.

“There is no typical deaf person. It’s not one size fits all,” Mallory said. “Modifications are based on the employer and the worker. A lot of times the changes are small — and if they’re good for deaf and hard of hearing people, they’re good for everybody.”

Jerrolds noted that onboarding deaf employees can feel daunting for manufacturers, which is why industry relationships and education are important.

“It’s new territory for them and they see it as a big question mark,” Jerrolds said. “That’s one reason I try to get students into work-based learning experiences and job shadowing. It’s as much for the employers as it is for the student.”

A Limitless Future in Metal

With the right tools, resources and support, the Deaf community can excel in manufacturing careers. Nathan Montoya, a career and technical education teacher at TSD, said he felt at home in METAL’s workshop alongside his students. Montoya, who is deaf, has a background in mechanical engineering.

“It’s all about exposure,” he said through the interpreter. “Let the students get their hands dirty. I want to see more of that. The industry is doing this for the students, showing them how they can have a career in this field.”

Howard has another year until graduation, but he’s already revved up to pursue a career in automotive manufacturing. He hopes to use his skills in welding, mechanics and metalcasting to build everything from cars and trucks to motorcycles and roll cages. Through METAL, Howard gained the momentum to shift his future into gear.

“I felt really great there. I never experienced anything that was a fun lab I could learn in, and I learned quite a bit,” Howard said about the workshop. “I just want the opportunity to learn and to have experience so when I go and work, I’ve learned what I need.”

Ready to cast America’s future? If you’re a teacher, school administrator, or parent interested in bringing METAL’s K-12 initiatives to your school or community, fill out our contact form.

Ignite your future in metal today: Start METAL’s free online training and visit our events page to attend the next METAL bootcamp or workshop near you.

If you are deaf or hard of hearing and interested in new career opportunities — or you’re an employer looking to hire talented, motivated workers — the NTID Center for Workforce Development can help you get started. Visit the NCWD website or email NCWD@rit.edu to learn more.