2018cnc4-5.2

54 www.CNC-West.com CNC WEST April/May 2018 CAD/CAM/CNC Perspective By: Tim Paul Customer Success Manager Fusion360 CAM Tim.Paul@Autodesk.com Instagram: OneEarTim Are we failing our own industry? course in machining. I wanted to get him excited about what he could make with Fusion 360. In two hours Tanner designed, programmed, setup and machined a simple 3D scrabble tile with his initial. I say simple but Tanner’s first machined part had a Face, Adaptive Roughing, Rest Roughing, 3D Parallel with semi finish & finish passes, a 3D Pencil and was fully machine chamfered. I was in this industry for many years be- fore making my first 3D tool path. When I left I felt bad that I only had two hours to spend with him. I hoped I hadn’t turned him off from machining. Yesterday when I sat down with Dan and Tanner I started by apologiz- ing for not finding more time to spend with their class. Dan stopped me and said, “In those couple hours you spent with Tanner you changed a kid’s life. Tanner has a self confidence that he never had before. Now he knows he can make things.” I honestly had goose- bumps at the thought that just a couple hours could change a kid’s life. I don’t bring this up to brag. It’s actually uncomfortable for me to talk about. I bring it up because it makes me ask the question, “What can we do as an industry to inspire more kids to have the confidence and interest to make things?” And next, do they have a clear path to pursue a career in manufac- turing? I won’t pretend to have all the answers to my ques- tions but I do see a few critical challenges when it comes to filling the Machining Industry with a smart, passionate work force that we need now and for years to come. First, we need to get people interested into joining our industry. Second, we need to have a path to learning the trade. Third, we need a clear path to enter and grow within the trade. I believe the alarming numbers found in reports such as the recent Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute report where they predict an estimated 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will need W e have all heard the seemingly abstract numbers of how short our trade is of skilled workers and the alarming rate at which our skilled and knowledgeable work force is retiring while so few are entering the trade. I want to dig a little deeper into this topic with this article and ask everyone in our industry what we are doing to solve the problem. I travel the country and interact with machine shop Managers and Owners almost constantly and many of the conversations I have reflect the same statistics that are plastered all over every trade publication we read. I mentor some local CTE programs and have spent the past few years beating the war drums to encourage them to recruit and train as many people as possible. Am I doing the right thing? R ecently, I was asked to help a few people get into the Machining Industry. They are the exact people we should want to pursue a career in our industry. Smart, passionate, mechanical people with a good work ethic and no substance abuse problems. I realized there are some different schools and resources to learn the software I sup- port and some machining basics. But, is there a clear path to enter the machining industry as a career? I couldn’t articulate a clear path. That made me want to learn more about what Dan Frank from Rocklin High School has for options to guide his students. Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dan Frank and one of his star stu- dents (Tanner Knight) to discuss our industry from their perspective. It’s conversations like these that shape the way I think and view our industry. Photos: Katie Paul T anner Knight is one of the bright stars in Dan Frank’s Engineering Support Technologies class at Rocklin High School. Dan has put together an impres- sive program that most of us would have killed to have available when we were in High School. Dan does an amazing job at partnering with the industry and get- ting support from individuals such as Kathy Looman with the Gene Haas Foundation. Dan’s passion and dedication to his students, his program and our industry should stand as a shining example of how things should be done. I’m embarrassed and a little ashamed that I haven’t made more time to mentor Dan’s class. A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to spend a couple Saturday hours giving Tanner a crash