One Voice | Government Advocacy for the Metalworking Industry

La Mesa, CA (February 27th, 2017) - When you hear about the Made in America movement, it's not always painted as a rosy picture. There are the tales of a looming skills gap needing to be filled, robots taking away jobs, and fighting to keep jobs in our country. How about some promising news regarding our manufacturing sector? Here are three organizations who are contributing in a large way.

Workshops for Warriors: Every day, the manufacturing industry furthers its legacy by attracting a younger generation to pick up the mantle. The industry is empowered by the organization Workshops for Warriors, who seeks to obtain these current, and future, crucial jobs for our military veterans.

In June of 2016, Shop Floor Automations attended an NTMA (National Tooling & Machining Association) event, where the organization spoke of the resources it provides to veterans who come home from serving us. Workshops for Warriors also prides itself on helping those soldiers who come home wounded, who often have anxieties about re-joining the workforce due to physical limitations, which may also include suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

Hernán Luis y Prado, the founder of the program, said "It's great to love our veterans, but love alone doesn't get our vets these jobs as a good machinist, a fabricator, or welder." The current Workshops for Warriors center has a large workstation of computers, $6 Million worth of equipment donations (from both Haas and Reliance Steel & Aluminum), and various other tools for learning about the nuances of the manufacturing field.

In addition to expanding their current location, Workshops for Warriors will, after a nearly-completed application process of 8 years, become a program that veterans can use their GI Bill for. This means that while the program is already free to veterans, they will soon have funds for housing and other approved costs that will make their lives considerably less stressful while trying to attain these necessary occupational skills and certifications. This is expected to begin in Winter 2018, about ten years after the program first got its start.

Hernán said in an interview with SFA at FABTECH 2016 that veterans get up to four years to be trained in a particular military occupation, but they have less than one week to transition as a civilian.

"When you can train veterans, get them nationally recognized credentials, and place them into manufacturing careers, you will see them thrive and you are going to see America take off like she has never taken off before!" 

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