Paul Wichert, Vice President of LDI Manufacturing Technology, announces the donations to Horicon High school.
Left to right is Craig Foster, Milltronics Regional Sales Manager; Bob Jurack, Sales Manager, Concept Machine Tool Wisconsin; Scott Rosen, Salesman, Concept Machine Tool Wisconsin; Paul Wichert, Vice President, LDI Manufacturing Technology; and Mark Boehmer, Instructor, Horicon High School.
With today's growing need for skilled machinists, forward thinking high schools like Horicon High School in Horicon, WI, have been ramping up their technical curriculums to train the next generation of American machinists.
Located within 30 miles of some of the country's biggest manufacturers such as John Deere, Mayville Engineering and Burgess-Norton, the Horicon School District saw a need. They passed a referendum to build a technology curriculum to train skilled machinists that manufacturers in their community were looking to hire. Part of Horicon's program was the purchase of a Milltronics CNC machine for its technical shop, the school's first CNC mill. When delivered this August, it will be the centerpiece of a new curriculum to train for careers in manufacturing.
When Concept Machine Tool, a Milltronics distributor, and Milltronics received Horicon's order they saw the opportunity to do more for the future of their industry. They invited Mark Boehmer of Horicon's Technical Education Department to Waconia, MN, for Milltronics' 40th anniversary and Vision 20/20 event on June 20, 2013. In addition to Horicon's new MM18 CNC Mill, Milltronics provided a free upgrade to its 8200 control along with 10 seats of control software to allow students to use their computer work stations to program offline program.
Additionally, Machine Works donated seven seats of its solid modeling software and Concept Machine Tool donated the hasp devices that will enable the softwares to work together. Concept Machine Tool will also be donating free installation and training on the new mill, and Techniks Tooling donated the tooling package to outfit the new MM18. The combined donations total $26.5K, and there may be more to come.
"For Milltronics and its partners, the Horicon story is not a one time event," said Paul Wichert, Vice President of LDI Manufacturing Technology. "Our hope is that when other businesses hear what we are doing, they will look for their own opportunities to do the same with high schools in their area. Through donations, internships and scholarships we can all help power the resurgence of American manufacturing. Young people are the future, and the future looks good."
For more information contact:
Andy Hockert
Milltronics CNC Machines
1400 Mill Lane
Waconia, MN 55387
952-442-1410
ahockert@milltronics.net
www.milltronics.net
MN, ND, SD
Craig Conlon
Concept Machine Tool
15625 Medina Road
Minneapolis, MN 55447
763-559-1975
craigc@conceptmachine.com
www.conceptmachine.com
WI
Bob Jurack
Concept Machine Tool
407 Austin Circle
Delafield, WI 53018
262-646-4488
bobj@conceptmachine.com
www.conceptmachine.com