Mike Schultz Headlines 2017 HTEC Manufacturing Conference at Lincoln Tech
The annual National Haas Technical Education Center (HTEC) Conference gives host schools an opportunity to showcase their training facilities for Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Manufacturing careers. It also gives educators a forum to share ideas on how to improve and plan programs on their own campuses. The theme for this year’s manufacturing conference, held over the summer, was “Innovative Education Services: Taking Back American Manufacturing.” So Lincoln Tech was a natural choice to host it!
Haas Automation Inc., global manufacturer of CNC machining equipment, sponsors HTEC training facilities at three Lincoln Tech campuses around the country: Grand Prairie, TX; Indianapolis, IN; and Mahwah, NJ. The CNC Machining and Manufacturing Technology Program at Lincoln Tech helps students get ready for an entry-level CNC Machine Operator or Set-up Technician position in fields such as automotive, aviation, military defense, aerospace and more.
“Monster” Mike Schultz, CNC Pioneer, Delivers Keynote Address
Mike Schultz was chosen to serve as keynote speaker at this year’s event. Schultz is a professional Snocross and Motocross racer, and a small business owner, who lost his leg above the knee in a 2008 racing accident. Unsatisfied with the limited mobility provided by standard prosthetic limbs at the time, he designed and built his own – called the Moto Knee and Versa Foot. Soon after, he started his own company – BioDapt, Inc. – which relies on CNC manufacturing equipment to build artificial limbs.
“By developing this equipment, we’re really allowing other people to get out and live more active lifestyles,” he says, adding that he’s living proof of the importance CNC manufacturing has to many different aspects of society. “Seven months after my injury occurred I was competing at the Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles on a prosthetic leg I developed using CNC machines.”
Haas Foundation Donation Highlights Manufacturing Conference
At the manufacturing conference, the Gene Haas Foundation presented a $250,000 check to the Lincoln Foundation for Education (LiFE), funds that will provide scholarships for manufacturing career training. LiFE President Ami Bhandari said her foundation was grateful and honored to receive such a generous donation. "We appreciate the opportunity to support students pursuing computerized manufacturing careers,” she says. “In the long run this donation and these scholarships will help our students not only launch those careers, but be better providers for their families as well."
According to careeronestop.org, nearly 50,000 computerized manufacturing jobs will need to be filled around the country by 2024. These jobs will be found in facilities manufacturing everything from artificial joints and equipment for the healthcare industry to components for the auto, diesel, aerospace, defense, electronics and construction fields. By partnering with Haas Automation, Lincoln Tech is helping to grow the skilled workforce needed to keep these industries thriving.
As Lincoln Tech and Haas Automation expand their nationwide partnership, students are finding this is the perfect time to begin training for careers in computerized manufacturing. Take advantage of scholarship opportunities and start on the path to a new career today!