TECHWORKS Receives Haas CNC Machines

Need new employees trained on new machines to get your company productive as fast as possible? TECHWORKS can customize a training program to fit a company’s needs and can offer the training at TECHWORKS, a 25,000 square foot facility in Rockford, IL, or at the company’s location. “The classes can even be held on weekends if that is what the company wants,” said Russ Kutz, Training Coordinator at Woodward Academy, TECHWORKS.

TECHWORKS benefits from the strong support of Chad Arthur (Arthur Machinery, Elk Grove Village, IL) and Haas Automation, Inc., its two most important partners in CNC skill training. “Arthur Machinery has provided TECHWORKS with state-of-the-art Haas CNC equipment for teaching and demonstration purposes in Rockford, while introducing TECHWORKS instructors to companies with onsite training needs in the greater Chicago area. Chad Arthur long ago realized that a trained workforce was one of the keys to the success of the American metalworking industry,” said Russ Kutz of the Woodward Academy. “Without skilled operators, the best machinery in the world means nothing. The alliance between Arthur Machine, Haas Automation, and TECHWORKS is a partnership between industry and education where the value has always been greater than the sum of the parts.”

TECHWORKS, made up of two components, the Woodward Academy and the Fastener Training and Technology Center, is one of 11 business-training centers of the non-profit corporation called the Abilities Center. The Woodward Academy has been teaching the manufacturing process for 37 years and has been part of TECHWORKS for the last three years. Russ Kutz was with the Woodward Academy before it became part of TECHWORKS and is regarded as one of the best shop floor training instructors at Woodward Academy.

“The Woodward Academy is the finest training program for machinists that has ever come out of this area,” said Dave Morgan, owner of Illinois Machine Products, LLC and past board chairman of the Abilities Center. “TECHWORKS has trained some of our employees right out of high school who are still with us today. There are government programs where companies can obtain financial assistance to pay for up to 90% of the cost of employee training through the Workforce Connection.”

TECHWORKS has basic manual machines featuring mills, lathes, OD and surface grinders as well as the new Haas CNC machines donated by Haas distributor Arthur Machinery, Inc. “The Haas Training Demonstration Center here at TECHWORKS enables us to provide training not only on basic manual machines but also training with modern technology as seen in today’s Haas machine tools. We work with employers to identify opportunities for training and special-project subcontracting, using this as the basis of our job-readiness programs,” said Jon Lundin, President of the Abilities Center.

TECHWORKS is set up to teach people of every skill level including blueprint reading, 2D and 3D CAD, CNC programming and advanced geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. Students come from high school, college and industry. An important goal is to help the unemployed gain marketable job skills.

“We can take this training anywhere, to fit any need,” said Ed Van Vleet, Program and Facility Manager at TECHWORKS. “We call it just-in-time training.” The Fastener Training and Technology Center, a part of TECHWORKS, began in 1991 and offers courses designed for both new and existing employees and involves classroom instruction as well as hands on training using the latest cold heading and threading equipment. The TECHWORKS center is an open entry - open exit program to fit the timing needs of its clients.

L to R: Benton Black, Development Consultant, MFGtech; Ed Van Vleet, Program and Facility Manager, TECHWORKS; Chad Arthur, President, Arthur Machinery, Inc.; Jon Lundin, President, Abilities Center; Dave Morgan, President, Illinois Machine Products, LLC; Russ Kutz, Training Coordinator, Woodward Academy, TECHWORKS.

Haas Training and Demonstration Showroom at TECHWORKS headquarters in Rockford, Illinois.

TECHWORKS Training Center at 185 Fifteenth Ave., Rockford, Illinois 61194, recently had over $1 million spent in renovations.

L-R: TECHWORKS Training Center Student, Mike Hurron and TECHWORKS Training Instructor, Gordy Blaisdell.

L-R: Chad Arthur, President, Arthur Machinery, Inc. and Dave Morgan, President, Illinois Machine Products, LLC at TECHWORKS Training Center.

“The Rockford area is really the poster child of American manufacturing, with the second-highest level of industrial per-capita employment in the U.S.,” said Jon Lundin. “We feel that TECHWORKS has a vital role in preparing people for manufacturing occupations. We are also blessed to have U.S. Representative Don Manzullo (Illinois - 16^th District) as our champion in Washington. He is known as Mr. Manufacturing on Capitol Hill, and has been a good friend of TECHWORKS over the years.”

TECHWORKS provides hands-on training and real work experience. This is accomplished with TECHWORKS’ prototype and sub-contract machine shop. TECHWORKS’ training program is designed with the consultation of 24 manufacturers who also at times send sub-contract work to TECHWORKS.

With some U.S. firms postponing or deciding against expansions because they could not find enough skilled workers TECHWORKS is a training resource not to be overlooked.

For more information contact:

Russ Kutz, Training Coordinator

E-mail: rkutz@techworksprogram.org

Ed Van Vleet, Program and Facility Manager

E-mail: evanvleet@techworksprogram.org

TECHWORKS

185 15th Ave.

Rockford, IL 61104

815-967-7571

Fax 815-967-7590

www.techworksprogram.org

Jon Lundin, President