We need a lot more of this in the US; what is your state doing?

The problem today is kids see no future( MONEY) in manufacturing.
YouTube stars and video game testers rule are youths ambitions.

We have MCC (Monroe Community College) near here, with a huge number of technical programs. 2-year school and affordable. Go to the bottom of the list and click on TAM to see the machining program-

Johnhudson said:

The problem today is kids see no future( MONEY) in manufacturing.
YouTube stars and video game testers rule are youths ambitions.

Click to expand...

They call 'em "social media influencers" - a term I find particularly annoying.

Influence / manipulate
Potato / Po-tat-o

If a 16 year old child making vlogs with an iPhone is capable of influencing our mush-brained society of adult children; we're already past the point of redemption.

Having said that, last week I was given a new kid to train. 22 years old, fresh outta the Marine corps and a 4 month machining program.

The kid is intuitive and highly motivated. He reminds me of myself at that age; reading machine manuals on break, taking legible notes on specific tasks and logically working through set ups without asking stupid questions. He is going to do very well.

If manufacturing is going to advance in this country; we need to stop telling our disciplined, motivated people that they need to become mechanical engineers. Instead, we need to totally redesign the former Journeyman program so that it is applicable to modern manufacturing technology.

A combination of knowledge from the titles of; machinist, manufacturing engineer, programmer - and optional specialties like lean mfg, metallurgy, abrasives, additive mfg or robotics.

Strip out the "social refinement" b.s. classes and make the training affordable.

Machine specific training that didn't cost $3k and a trip to the mfg would be great too.