Fueling American Defense and Aerospace: How a Miller Castings Engineer Prepares Tomorrow’s Metallurgists

When Cal Poly Pomona graduate Eric Cramer began his career as a process and product development engineer in the metal industry, he had no professional foundry experience. He was hired at Miller Castings, an investment casting leader in his hometown of Whittier, California, and quickly realized he had a steep learning curve ahead of him.

Cramer had cast an aluminum model car in college. Now he was reviewing blueprints for fighter jets, military tanks and rocket systems.

“It was a big jump,” Cramer said. “You’re just trying to get through class and pass, but you don’t understand the industry goes way deeper than what you’re working on.”

Most of what Cramer knows about metalcasting today, he learned on the job. “You don’t think about that until someone tells you,” he added.

Eleven years later, Cramer has come full circle, partnering with Miller Castings and his alma mater to mentor the next generation of American metallurgists. Through programs like Cast in Steel and METAL’s bootcamp, with support from universities and industry partners, engineering students are stepping into the foundry — casting, forging and discovering careers in metal manufacturing before they graduate.

The black and white axe, created by Cal Poly Pomona’s License to Steel team for the 2026 Cast in Steel competition, was cast, assembled and funded by Miller Castings with mentorship from engineer Eric Cramer.

America’s Defense Depends on Skilled Metal Workers

Miller Castings is an established lost wax investment casting supplier for U.S. defense, aerospace and consumer industries. Its products, often complex castings made from super alloys, are critical systems in the Falcon 9 rocket, F22 and F35 fighter jets, Abrams tanks, and Boeing’s latest aviation breakthrough, the 787 Dreamliner.

“I remember walking in here,” said Sales Manager Bejan Khandehroo, who joined the team 16 years ago for a part-time job and never left. “You see the airplane engine and you really don’t understand how many thousands and thousands of pieces go into making it fly.”

Despite its essential work, Miller Castings battles the same challenge as most American manufacturers: They need more people. More importantly, they need trained metal workers.

By 2033, the United States could have 3.8 million manufacturing jobs available, with only enough workers to fill about half the roles. This year, President Donald J. Trump also signed an action plan to revitalize the nation’s shipbuilding capabilities and maritime power — catching up to China, which currently produces 74% of the world’s ships.

As the nation prioritizes defense manufacturing on American soil, the need for highly-skilled metal workers is urgent. Workforce shortages ripple through supply chains, forcing manufacturers to spend more time training new employees and less time producing critical parts.

“The company has no other choice but to take an entry-level person and train them because there’s nobody out there that already has experience,” Cramer said about Miller Castings. The manufacturer has also been impacted by metal worker shortages in other industries, such as toolmaking.

“We have to wait a year sometimes for the tool to be built because there’s nowhere to go,” he said. “There’s nobody available to build them, so we’re stuck waiting in line.”

METAL, led by IACMI – The Composites Institute®, was created to fill industry talent gaps by accelerating training in modern metal manufacturing. Through hands-on bootcamps, K-12 workshops and apprenticeship support in metalcasting and forging, METAL provides students and universities resources to advance career-ready skills and strengthen America’s defense and manufacturing resiliency.

Cramer believes metallurgical training for engineers must extend beyond the classroom. That’s why, for the past two years, he’s mentored Cal Poly Pomona’s students in the Cast in Steel competition.

See how a lifetime in metalcasting begins. Read Dr. Victor Okhuysen of Cal Poly Pomona’s story.

Axing Student Barriers to the Foundry

This year, more than 300 engineering students came together to create combat-ready horseman’s axes — or so they hoped. Cast in Steel is a national competition that introduces students to the world of metalcasting as they design, cast and test a fully functional tool or weapon, often for the very first time.

Both Cast in Steel and METAL are supported through funding by the Department of War’s (DoW) Office of Industrial Base Policy, which manages investments made pursuant to the Industrial Base Fund (10 U.S.C §4817), to better prepare upcoming metallurgists through real-world experiences. This year, student teams from 10 of METAL’s university partners participated in the competition, including Cal Poly Pomona.

The Horseman’s Axe challenge was Devyn Fidel’s second time competing in Cast in Steel. He participated in George Washington’s Sword Challenge the year before and was ready to lead, guiding a team of four students through the investment casting process.

“You’re solving real problems,” Fidel said. “We have around six months to do this project, so you need to manage your time to make sure you’re getting stuff done, just like in real life and real engineering.”

Devyn Fidel, a senior in manufacturing engineering at Cal Poly Pomona, tests out his team’s horseman’s axe before Cast in Steel, a competition where students design, cast, and test a fully functional metal tool from scratch.

Subscribe to Cast in Steel to watch sparks fly on Season 1 of “George Washington’s Sword,” every Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on YouTube.

But Fidel’s team wasn’t alone in building their axe — they had Cramer to help them overcome bumps along the way. Every team is required to work with an industry partner who can safely mentor them in designing and completing a finished steel casting. Miller Castings also provided employee time, materials and funds to support the students’ project.

For months, in between full course loads and part-time jobs, Cast in Steel competitors buckle down and learn the science and processes behind modern metalcasting. Students take on product research, alloy selection, mold design and casting simulations, heat treatment, post-processing finishing, and product testing.

At every step, Cramer reviewed the students’ work and provided feedback to yield better foundry results. He remembered their axe’s handle design was particularly complex, requiring extra CAD designs and SolidCast simulations to get the mold and material selections just right. Cramer also walked the team through the basics of manufacturing economics, including estimated production costs and project lead times.

“I don’t think they realized how much time and effort goes into every step of the process,” Cramer said, “especially when the deadline was approaching. There were some late nights spent machining.”

Fidel and his teammates also had the opportunity to tour Miller Castings’ facility, where the axe’s patterns were shell dipped to create ceramic molds, its metal poured, and the castings assembled by professional metal workers. The team chose to finish the axe with a powder coating, turning the head jet-black and the handle stark white for a “Darth Vader” look.

“We told them exactly how the axe was going to be cast and what processing needed to be done, and they worked their magic,” Fidel said. “The industry knowledge we got from them and their workers helped us a lot.”

Before the competition, Fidel’s team put its horseman’s axe to the test — from chopping wood to slicing watermelons and lemons out of the air like a real-life game of Fruit Ninja. It worked every time.

A Winning Experience

For Cramer, the best part of Cast in Steel is watching student engineers grow from submitting their first design idea through the steps of casting a final product. It’s not about winning, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want his team’s axe to be the best.

“The competition is pretty exciting,” he said. “They texted me that they were advancing through the different levels, and I really wanted them to win. They got close.”

Fidel’s team, “License to Steel,” took home second place for the Best Investment Casting in the 2026 Horseman’s Axe Challenge.

Beyond bragging rights and a medieval weapon, Cal Poly Pomona’s students left with the skills to start their careers in metal when they graduate. Entry-level engineers start in the process or quality assurance departments at Miller Castings, just like Cramer did. Across the company, there are positions open in sprue making, sandblasting, X-ray inspection, welding, inspection and more.

“The kids coming out of college are bringing innovation to us. They have expertise in new technologies and a new way to look at things that’s super important,” Khandehroo said. “They’re the cutting edge.”

Thanks to METAL, students at universities across the country are exploring casting processes, suiting up to pour and forge metal, and experimenting with industry-leading software and quality testing. Without hands-on programs like Cast in Steel and METAL, Cramer said students would only learn about foundries from a book.

“It’s a big help to do this kind of project,” Cramer said. “Without that exposure, in my opinion, most engineering students would veer towards Google or Apple or those types of companies rather than industry work.”

Why should students consider careers in metal? Cramer puts it simply: Because our country needs it.

“Without metal workers, our military is not going to have the products they need and commercial aircraft won’t be built,” Cramer explained. “The workforce is getting weaker without the new generation coming in.”

Fidel, who hopes to be a metallurgy professor one day, said he’s learned something new every year he’s participated in Cast in Steel.

“This was the first year I did investment casting, so I learned a whole new field of manufacturing and I made a lot of friends,” Fidel said. “There’s so much to get out of it. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t try something like this.”

Ready to build the future of American manufacturing? Explore METAL’s free online training and hands-on bootcamps to discover careers in metalcasting and forging. Visit our events page to find a bootcamp near you.

Watch new episodes of Season 1 of Cast in Steel, “George Washington’s Sword,” every Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on YouTube.

Cal Poly Pomona’s License to Steel team won second place for the Best Investment Casting in Cast in Steel’s 2026 Horseman’s Axe Challenge.

The Horseman’s Axe: College Students Discover Careers and Community at Cast in Steel 2026

The first time Marisa Holding heard about Cast in Steel, an upperclassman walked into the University of Wisconsin–Madison holding what looked like a spear. Not a prop. Not a replica — a real spear. He pulled an African spearhead from his backpack and explained it was for the Cast in Steel competition.

“I was lost for words,” Holding said. “What competition has students make weapons on campus that are meant to be functionally tested? I decided then that I was going to join the competition the following year.”

What is Cast in Steel?

Subscribe to Cast in Steel to see sparks fly on the Season 1 premiere, “George Washington’s Sword,” July 9 at 8:00 p.m. ET on YouTube.

Holding kept that promise, participating in 2025 and 2026 Cast in Steel – a national competition where college students test their engineering expertise by designing and casting metal tools like Thor’s hammer and George Washington’s sword from scratch. This year, 62 teams from universities across the United States came together to cast their own horseman’s axe. But the competition isn’t only about teaching tomorrow’s engineers how to make performance-ready products. For many, Cast in Steel is their first introduction to the craft and community behind modern American manufacturing.

“The primary goal of this competition is to touch the hearts of young people who’ve never realized that going into manufacturing and making castings or forgings could be thrilling, worthwhile, purposeful and meaningful,” said Raymond Monroe, executive vice president of the Steel Founders’ Society of America, the organization that hosts Cast in Steel.

Today, more than half of Generation Z, people ages 14 to 29, remain neutral or disinterested in manufacturing careers. In one survey, almost 60% of Gen Z respondents said they might have pursued manufacturing if they had access to related programs in school.

Programs like Cast in Steel and METAL, both supported through funding by the Department of War’s (DoW) Office of Industrial Base Policy, which manages investments made pursuant to the Industrial Base Fund (10 U.S.C §4817), are working to change these odds for future generations with hands-on training and real-world metalcasting experiences.

That mission comes at a critical moment for the industry. By 2033, nearly 4 million manufacturing jobs could be available in the U.S. with only enough workers to fill half the roles. When America’s manufacturing foundation is weak, its defense, energy and other critical infrastructures are left vulnerable to supply chain shortages.

“Our job is to deter a conflict from ever happening,” said Matthew Draper, the technical director for the U.S. Department of War. “To make sure that everyone in the world who is potentially our adversary knows and understands that America is ready to respond, we need people. We need a lot of people in manufacturing.”

This year, student teams from 10 of METAL’s university partners participated in Cast in Steel, including grand prize winner the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

An Axe to Grind – How to Make a Horseman’s Axe

For six months, 300 college students dedicated their time in between classes mastering the art and science of casting a horseman’s axe. They pulled all-nighters, drove hours to work with industry partners, and some like Teagan Strecker learned how to form and reshape metal for the very first time.

Strecker, a UW–Madison material sciences major, had no interest in metalcasting. In fact, no one on her Cast in Steel team, The Mad Badger Metalcasters, had attempted casting or forging before. But with mentorship from experienced Cast in Steel competitors, including Holding and Laney Zuelsdorff, Strecker joined in.

“I didn’t really know what Cast and Steel was, but they promised me it would be fun, so I decided to give it a shot,” she said.

Before firing up the foundries, university teams realized they’d need to win the battle of historical research.

A horseman’s axe isn’t exactly like an axe used for chopping wood. Rulers like Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, were believed to use this type of axe in man-to-man combat, wielding the weapon with one hand during combat from horseback. Horseman’s axes were often outfitted with leather wrist straps for utility, langets — or narrow strips of metal — for strength, and spikes for protection. The students’ axes, meant to resemble historical accuracy, could not weigh more than 3.3 lbs or be longer than 31.5 inches.

“The most important thing a lot of teams miss is the research and narrowing down what makes a horseman’s axe, a horseman’s axe,” said Devyn Fidel, a Cal Poly Pomona manufacturing engineering major who competed in Cast in Steel for the second time this year. “It can’t be too front heavy, otherwise it’s really hard to swing.”

Turning ideas into battle-ready weapons was tough — demanding teams of mechanical engineering, materials science and manufacturing engineering technology students, plus the expertise of industry leaders.

Cast in Steel 2026 Grand Prize Winners, The Mad Badger Metalcasters, from the University of Wisconsin–Madison included Malini Datta-Nemana, Evelyn Dwyer, Chase Edwardson, Mathias Gitterle, Ana Lesmeister, Simon Niemcek and Teagan Strecker. Photo courtesy of UW–Madison’s College of Engineering.

The Messy Middle

In addition to design, students had creative liberty to choose the materials they cast their axes from. Ryson Haag, a mechanical engineering student at Georgia Southern University, said his team’s axe wasn’t pretty, but they were determined to cast a tool that wouldn’t break. They decided to use a modified 8630 steel with extra chromium and experimented with heat treatments to avoid brittleness.

“Our first axe was a sledgehammer,” Haag said, forming a broad triangle with his hands. “With a 40 degree tip, it’s not cutting anything.”

To overcome design challenges, Haag learned how to use CAD simulation software like SOLIDCast to optimize mold designs and solve metal velocity problems during a pour. Practicing simulations taught him how to make effective molds for investment and sand castings, applying the engineering principles he learned in class to a real-life project.

“It saved me a lot of time because it taught me here’s what the theoretical says and here’s what better and worse ideas look like,” Haag said. “That is one of the best things I could have gotten out of Cast and Steel.”

Cast in Steel competitors are under a time crunch to complete alloy selection, mold design, casting simulations, heat treatment processes, post-processing finishing, and product testing — often for the first time. The students who participate in METAL’s bootcamps have an advantage. Through METAL’s nationwide training programs, students gain hands-on foundry experience and foundational casting and forging skills before stepping into competitions like Cast in Steel.

Steven Fedell, a 2026 mechanical engineering graduate from Penn State, Behrend, said his experience with the university’s METAL bootcamp helped prepare him to lead his team to second place in Best Sand Casting.

“I went into the competition thinking, ‘You have to consider people’s lack of experience and you only have so much time,’” Fedell said. “You could be the smartest person in the world, but if you can’t communicate your ideas to others, does it really matter?”

However, limited experience doesn’t deter students’ motivation or imagination. Daniel Branagan’s team from Michigan Technological University made the unconventional choice to cast a heart-shaped axe head from cast iron steel. The durable, heat-resistant nature of cast iron is perfect for products like skillets and wood-burning stoves, but using it to cast a functional axe was complex.

“To make cast iron strong enough, you have to go through a specific heat treating process, which is impossible to do on your own,” explained Branagan, a material sciences PhD candidate at Michigan Tech. “You need molten salt baths and carbonizing atmospheres.”

Branagan’s team worked with Aalberts Surface Technologies, a leading surface technology service provider that specializes in metal coating and heat treating for the automotive, mechanical engineering and medical technology industries. Industry partners are an essential resource during the competition, providing students guidance and facilities they may not have access to. Aalberts provided chemistry recommendations and heat treated the team’s axe in addition to funding Michigan Tech’s costs for the project.

Working with an industry partner showed Branagan how the skills and techniques he used for Cast in Steel are relevant to industrial metal manufacturing.

“This could very well turn into a job someday,” he said.

At Miller Castings, engineer Eric Cramer partnered with Cal Poly Pomona’s students. Miller Castings, a lost wax investment casting manufacturer that serves aerospace, military and commercial customers, financially supported the project, provided foundry tours, and mentored the students throughout the investment casting process.

“I don’t think they realized how much time and effort goes into every step. They learned a lot from the explanations on why their design should be tweaked to get it through the foundry,” explained Cramer, a Cal Poly Pomona alumnus who’s just as invested in the outcome of Cast in Steel as the students he works with. “I really wanted them to win.”

This year, with Cramer’s help, Cal Poly’s License to Steel team won second place for Best Investment Casting.

“What prepares people the most is being face-to-face with the industry,” said Ethan Beltran De Anda, a mechanical engineering major at Cal Poly. “You actually meet with them and talk to them. Then people in the other groups are your future peers and coworkers. It’s just a really good experience.”

Cast in Steel runner-ups, The Mad-Town Axemen, included University of Wisconsin–Madison seniors Ivan Cermak, Dominic Chione, Marisa Holding, Wen-Yo Yen and Laney Zuelsdorff. Photo courtesy of UW–Madison’s College of Engineering.

Chopping Down the Competition

What matters most after six months of production is having a functional tool to test. For three days in April, every university team meets in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a live, high-energy showdown where industry experts judge the cast creations in a series of performance challenges.

Dr. Frank Pfefferkorn, a professor of mechanical engineering at UW–Madison, said Cast in Steel is as close to a real-world engineering project as students can get.

“From the very beginning, they have a product they have to deliver,” Pfefferkorn explained. “It’s like you’re a contract manufacturer and you have to make every decision along the way.”

“It builds their confidence that they can do this,” he added.

Before the event, teams test their weapons at home, slicing into everything from logs and Roombas to playing real-life Fruit Ninja. Then, if the axe survives, it’s ready for the Cast in Steel stage – a moment heightened by TV crews filming the competition.

“We were really nervous that the ax was going to break,” admitted Breannyn Black, a mechanical engineering major at Michigan Tech. Her team had ideas for optimization, but simply ran out of time. Ready or not, she stepped onto the testing stage and threw their axe into a knight’s suit of chainmail.

“I could not believe it took that first hit. I was so happy,” Black said. “When I hit it again, I was like, ‘Wow, I made something that does its function. It does what it’s supposed to do and it’s impressive.’ I felt pretty empowered by that.”

Performance tests included piercing a two-by-four plank of wood with its spike and cutting into a steel sheet suspended from the ceiling. The teams were not only under the scrutiny of the judges, but their peers from other universities, too.

“It was cool to see how everyone performed,” said Zachary Platt, a mechanical and manufacturing engineering technology student at the University of Northern Iowa. The spike on his team’s axe wobbled during its performance, knocking them out of the competition. “You can’t win them all, and I’m happy with how ours turned out.”

Not all the axes made it through in one piece.

“I can’t lie,” Fedell laughed, “watching some of the axes shatter spectacularly on stage was pretty neat.”

Beyond axe performance, students were judged on technical reports, casting creativity, and videos documenting their process. Longtime Cast in Steel judges Patrick Nowak and Forged in Fire’s David Baker say the competition never fails to deliver impressive ingenuity.

“I like seeing the students’ approaches to the problems they’re given and how they use whatever resources they have to try to meet the contest criteria,” Nowak said.

“The point of the competition isn’t to win or lose,” Baker added. “Don’t get me wrong, everybody’s excited to win, but it’s really about designing and manipulating material to create a tool. It’s an exciting thing to watch and it’s fun to be part of it.”

Cal Poly Pomona team “License to Steel” tests their axe out at home with real-life Fruit Ninja.

The Winning Moment

If there’s one moment Holding, Strecker and Zuelsdorff will never forget, it’s winning Cast in Steel. After three days of brutal product testing, the remaining teams stood on stage, waiting for the final results. One by one the judges named the teams who, unfortunately, did not cast the winning horseman’s axe.

“Finally, there were two teams left on stage and it was Wisconsin and Wisconsin,” remembered Zuelsdorff. “We had matching shirts, so it looked like one team up there, and we looked at each other and said, ‘We won no matter what. We’re giving it back to our university’s club.’ It was an all-around amazing moment.”

That’s exactly what the grand prize winners, The Mad Badger Metalcasters, chose to do. The team donated the entire $25,000 prize to UW–Madison’s Material Advantage and Foundry Society student chapter. Holding and Zuelsdorff’s team, The Mad-Town Axemen, earned second place — and took pride in mentoring The Mad Badger Metalcasters on an award-winning axe.

Strecker walked off the stage with more than prize money and bragging rights. She had discovered an entirely new career path.

“I was not really interested in metallurgy at all before I did Cast in Steel, and now I’m doing it in my job,” said Strecker, who’s an intern at GE Healthcare’s refractory process innovations plant. “Seeing that you can do metallurgy, especially as a woman, inspires you and shows you that metallurgy is still an exciting field to be in.”

For SFSA Executive Vice President Raymond Monroe, the students’ enthusiasm is all that matters.

“These students are the future of our industry and American manufacturing,” said Monroe. “I’m thrilled we have so many young people who are excited to be involved in our competition, and I look forward to their leadership in the future.”

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

Watch the Season 1 premiere of Cast in Steel, “George Washington’s Sword,” July 9 at 8 p.m. ET on YouTube.