Advanced Manufacturing Blog

High school students in the Independence area have a unique opportunity to get a head start on their manufacturing careers by taking part in the Welding Academy at Hawkeye's Independence Center.  With the help of their high school guidance counselors, students can sign up for afternoon classes that will help them to earn 11 credits toward their future training program BEFORE graduating from high school.  This is a $1,600 value!  AMAZING! 

On a rainy Friday on a campus buzzing with students preparing for finals, faculty put down their red pens for an afternoon and welcomed dozens of 6th grade students from all six, Cedar Falls elementary schools to learn about in-demands careers in the STEM field. 

Each year, Hawkeye Community College sponsors several camps where middle school students are invited to build rockets, shoot catapults, design bridges, race solar cars and learn a lot of teamwork.  Gateway to Technology is a Project Lead the Way program offered to junior high students across the country, and with the help of generous, local foundations, Hawkeye Community College is able to offer these great activities in camp form.

I work with a lot of teachers, guidance counselors and parents who harbor the misconception that young people without a solid aptitude in mathematics can be successful in manufacturing.  The truth is, a solid understanding of algebra, geometry and even the dreaded trigonometry, are essential in being a great machinist, welder, or electromechanical maintenance technician. 

Jacob Hinz is a student in Curt Balvanz' industrial technology classes at East High School in Waterloo.  Waterloo Community Schools has a tradition of promoting advanced technical programming and established a career academy system in 2010 that includes Engineering Technology and Manufacturing (ETM). 

Over 65 of the best teachers from across the state spent an entire day on the Hawkeye Community College campus on April 3rd, all in an effort to learn new ways to engage students around STEM careers through Project Lead the Way.

Manufacturing is a matter of scale.  There probably isn’t a person in town that couldn’t tell you what the green and gold colors on the side of your neighbor’s lawn mower represent.  John Deere is one example of a global manufacturing enterprise in our own community.  What many people do not realize, though, is that the Cedar Valley is home to the highest concentration of manufacturers in all of Iowa, many companies locally-owned and family-run.

CNC Machining is one of the most in-demand jobs in the state.  Machinists are an integral part of the manufacturing process, as they are in charge of loading designs for new projects into specialized software programs and running the machines that create these custom parts.

I am a woman and I work with the manufacturing industry.  This statement often surprises people.  Our society and our communities still look at manufacturing and skilled trades as industries that are exclusively male.  The truth is, many production floors still have more men than women, but the number of women working, and finding success, in manufacturing is definitely on the rise.

This is the 21st century, and technology is king.  Teenagers spend more time on video game systems and Facebook than they do actually talking to their parents.  Adults are so tied to their cell phones, we are texting at stop lights and e-mailing during our kids' soccer games.  Our televisions shows are recorded and watched without commercials, and we stream Pandora to get a lot of the best music.  What many people are surprised to find is the HUGE role technology also plays in manufacturing.