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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Casting Opportunity: How Barron Industries Forges the Future of Aerospace and Defense
The first time Bruce Barron walked into Barron Industries’ investment casting facility, he found a dimly lit room with low ceilings, barely the size of a basketball court, and a […]
METAL Is for Everyone: Finding Your Place in Metals Manufacturing
Dr. Alexandra (Allie) Glover remembers her grandfather, Douglas Glover, by his quirky inventions, from a mechanical cherry pitter to a peanut butter stirrer, and his passion for metallurgy. He was […]
A Lifetime of Casting: Cal Poly Pomona’s “Metalcasting Guy” Inspires Tomorrow’s Metal Workers
About 1,500 miles south of Cal Poly Pomona, in Guadalajara, Mexico, Dr. Victor Okhuysen learned his family’s trade: metalcasting. Today, Okhuysen, the interim associate dean for the College of Engineering […]
Where Sparks Fly: Michigan Tech Builds Metalcasting Momentum with METAL
Dr. Paul Sanders fell in love with metalcasting in the foundry at Michigan Technological University more than 30 years ago. Today, as a materials science and engineering professor at his […]
Aiming Higher: U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Savana Ohlenburger Finds Her Fit in Munitions Manufacturing
Wife, mother and Airman Savana Ohlenburger has always led a life of service. After years of exploring careers in healthcare, she decided it was time to pursue her lifelong dream […]
Closing the Skills Gap: The Forging Course Strengthening U.S. Manufacturing
When Dr. Samantha Trzinski accepted the challenge to build a new forging class, she entered unfamiliar territory. Her career up to that point had been in education, not metallurgy. But […]
Small But Mighty: TOSOH SMD Powers Semiconductor Innovation with METAL Bootcamp
Cyler McClure has spent his career studying the ins and outs of semiconductors—microscopic metal switches that power today’s world. Now, as product engineering manager at TOSOH SMD, McClure empowers the […]