• By 2020, there will be a shortfall of 500,000 engineers in the US. (SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor and American Society for Engineering Education)
• In Michigan, only 1 engineer is available to fill 5 job openings. (SOURCE: Workforce Intelligence Network)

Excerpted from the March 12, 2013 issue of Bridge, The Great Michigan Talent Search, by Rick Haglund, Bridge Magazine correspondent

“Steve Lowe Jr. (president of LSM Systems Engineering in Waterford, MI) is scrambling to find more than a dozen skilled machinists, experienced engineers and laborers after his company recently won a multimillion-dollar contract to build giant camshafts for diesel locomotive engines.

He said he’s sought out state work force agencies, local community colleges and employment agencies in seeking the workers he needs to start camshaft production this summer. “To date, I have found no one,” said Lowe.

Melissa Hull, engineering and production coordinator at American Tooling Center located in Grass Lake, east of Jackson, tells a similar story.

Business is booming, but the company is having difficulty attracting enough machinists, tool-and-die journeymen, and computer numerical control machine programmers to keep up.

“We’re swamped, said Melissa Hull, the company’s engineering and production coordinator. “We’re running 10-hour shifts a day, six days a week.”

“The tables have been flipped,” Lowe said. “Two years ago we were just trying to keep the lights on. Now we’re trying to figure how we’re going to find the people we need to do all the work we have.””

What is CA doing to prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s jobs?

CAHS offers a Design and Build course that provides students with an introduction to Computer Numerical Control (CNC). During the CNC process, a computer converts the design produced by Computer Aided Design software (CAD), into numbers. The numbers can be considered to be the coordinates of a graph and they control the movement of the cutter. In this way the computer controls the cutting and shaping of the material.

This process is used in modern industry to manufacture an item.  On a CNC machine it is possible to make hundreds or even thousands of the same items in a day. First a design is drawn using design software, and then it is processed by the computer and manufactured using the CNC machine.

Why is CNC important for CA students? The answer is JOBS. There are jobs for people who are prepared and it doesn’t require a four year degree. An advanced degree opens additional career opportunities but isn’t required to obtain an entry level CNC job. On March25, 2013 searching the Michigan Talent Bank website (www.mitalent.org ) using the term CNC, produced 280 results for jobs within 50 miles of Flint.

In his State of the Union address in January 2011, President Obama said “maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America’s success. But if we want to win the future – if we want innovation to produce jobs in America and not overseas – then we also have to win the race to educate our kids.” Carman-Ainsworth is committed to winning the race to educate our students.