Nearly 200 Northern Illinois High School Students Participated in TMA’s 30th Annual Precision Machining Competition in Schaumburg
TMA’s Competition is the Association’s Most Significant and Effective Initiative for Career Recruitment into Precision Metal Working
SCHAUMBURG, IL – 190 high school students from 15 northern Illinois high schools competed in the Technology & Manufacturing Association’s (TMA) 30th Annual Precision Machining Competition, and students had their projects on display at the Awards Night that took place at Mazak in Schaumburg May 5, 2022.
The Precision Machining Competition is TMA’s most effective and significant initiative in career recruitment for precision metal working. The annual contest encourages students to pursue high-skill, high-paying, high-demand careers in advanced manufacturing, an industry struggling to find the next generation of skilled workers.
With COVID-19 restrictions loosening compared to 2021, this year’s competition saw a tremendous increase in student and school participation. This year’s student competitors produced an impressive 246 projects highlighting their skills in areas like CAD design, sine bar, grinding vice, CNC turning, CNC milling, CNC CAM, CNC programming, and other abilities and techniques relevant to modern machining.
High schools participating in the 30th annual competition included Cary-Grove, East Leyden, Elk Grove, Glenbard East, Hampshire, Harvard, Jefferson, Lake Park, Maine West, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, South Elgin, Streamwood, West Leyden, and Wheeling.
“This year’s Precision Machining Competition showed just how resilient these students are, and how resilient manufacturing is,” said TMA President Patrick Osborne. “It’s appropriate that the 30th edition of this great competition saw such an increase in participation, reflecting the indomitable spirit of manufacturing. All of us at TMA are so proud of these students and happy their hard work will help pave their way toward high-paying, in-demand jobs in manufacturing.”
Twenty companies were in attendance to promote potential employment opportunities for these students and see their work on display.
“The competition honors and motivates the same inventive students who will be the ones to help us close the manufacturing skills gap in the coming years,” said Jack Krikorian, TMA’s Senior Director of Training & Education. “These students will be the key manufacturing workers of the future and the backbone of our industry. The education and hands-on experience they’re gaining now will give them an inside track to high-tech, high-wage manufacturing jobs, setting them up for productive, prosperous careers in an exciting, dynamic field.”
About TMA: Founded in 1925, the Technology and Manufacturing Association is an independent trade organization exclusively focused on assisting and promoting small and mid-size manufacturers by providing a diverse portfolio of benefits and services, including: community, information, training, resources, and advocacy. TMA has nearly 1,000 members representing over 35,000 manufacturing employees and more than 25 million square feet of manufacturing plant.
