The IACMI-led national America’s Cutting Edge program equips participants with the basics that companies can build on to fill machining needs.
“‘When you graduate, call me,’” she told him. “And he did. I hired him right away.”
The success he’s had at the small aerospace machine shop in Stuart changed how Dirr has found and trained CNC machinists.
ACE provides free online and in-person training to participants interested in starting or upskilling their machining careers. In-person bootcamps typically run for five days, with time spent on CAD/CAM software and CNC machines.
Dirr says the national program “gives people the basic skills” that she can build on to put them on the shop floor. Additionally, it’s transformed her talent search process.
“It saves you money,” she said. “I went through the routine of advertising and interviewing people. It wastes time. When I go to the school and hire someone out of the program, they’re ready to go.”
Dirr has described the program as a “filter” to finding serious employees. And she isn’t alone in the approach of using ACE to find or upskill talent.
Missouri-based Seyer Industries has described the ACE bootcamp as great not only for exposure, but as a prerequisite for apprentices.
“I see ACE as a recruiting tool,” Chance Henke, workforce development manager at Seyer, said. “We have an apprenticeship that this could serve as a pipeline to.”
Mayday Manufacturing in Texas has been sending cohorts of its own personnel through the training as they’ve turned to in-house employees to fill their machining needs.
“What ACE has done for us is give a leg-up to their training and accelerate their exposure,” said Craig Barhorst, director of operations. “We see it as beneficial for our new machinists or those who show promise to become machinists.”
If you’re a company looking for talent, consider visiting an ACE partner. A full list of partners can be found here.
Contact ACE by IACMI, if you’d like us to facilitate a connection between you and your nearest ACE partner.
