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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson Visits China Instrument Parts During Manufacturing Month 2014

Michael Reader

On October 6, 2014, Senator Ron Johnson visited China Instrument Parts of Elkhorn as part of his tour of manufacturing plants throughout the State of Wisconsin. October 2014, is officially designated as Manufacturing Month.

First on the agenda for the senator, was to participate in an executive roundtable with local business leaders to discuss the state of affairs at the Capitol, particularly in the area of manufacturing. Following the discussion, Mike Reader, President of China Instrument Parts, took Senator Johnson on a tour of the plant. The visit culminated in a town meeting with the staff of China Instrument Parts, where individuals had the opportunity to ask questions about issues that affected them at the constituent level.

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Photos courtesy of Walworth County Today

Senator Johnson’s visit marked the fourth time in 2014 during which a high-ranked public official visited the China Instrument Parts facility. Earlier in the year, China Instrument Parts also welcomed Wisconsin’s Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, Senator Tammy Baldwin, and Governor Scott Walker.

In their initiatives to close the skills gap, China Instrument Parts continues to bring legislators and politicians through their facilities and hold frank conversations about the state of the manufacturing industry and the efforts that manufacturers, educators and organizations are making to overcome it. “The more we can do to show first-hand what we are doing,” said Reader, “the better opportunity to earn their support on legislation impacting manufacturing.”

China Instrument Parts Participates at the Milwaukee School of Engineering 2014 Career Fair

Michael Reader

Each year, Milwaukee School of Engineering holds a career fair open to all majors. The 2014 MSEO Career Fair took place on Friday, October 10th. China Instrument Parts was one of over 200 companies exhibiting at the event for the purpose of recruiting and meeting students one-on-one.

Both Mike Reader, President , and Barry Butters, Director of Education and Training, worked the booth, along with Mike Reader, Jr. who is presently attending the institution.   Mike Jr. is one of five former China Instrument Parts’ interns/apprentices who are currently enrolled at MSOE.

The conversation with students was non-stop, making the event highly successful with nearly 40 applications received specifically from those majoring in industrial engineering, mechanical engineering and mechanical engineering technology.

China Instrument Parts is planning to more than double its current capacity by next year, and is currently hiring for various positions.

Students Get Hands On In New Engineering Class: An Article in The Elkhorn Independent features Barry Butters

Michael Reader

The Elkhorn Independent recently featured an article outlining China Instrument Parts’ joint venture with Elkhorn Area High School to teach Project Lead The Way’s Capstone Course “Engineering, Design and Development,” whereby students will be taking the class at both the school and hands-on at China Instrument Parts  This is perhaps the first time that this capstone course is held primarily at a manufacturing facility.

Congratulations to Barry for leading such a ground-breaking endeavor!

Click here to read the full article on The Elkhorn Independent.

MSOE’s Rapid Prototyping Consortium Continues a Long Standing Tradition of Research and Innovation in Additive Manufacturing Industry

Michael Reader

Mike Reader, President of China Instrument Parts and Barry Butters, Director of Education and Training were asked to speak at the October 17, 2014 meeting of the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Rapid Prototyping Consortium.   The meeting also featured Reed Pulver, National Accounts Manager of All-State Industries and Vito Gervasi Director or R&D, Rapid Prototyping Research. Tom Bray, Dean of Applied Technology Center at MSOE began the meeting with a presentation on the history of the organization and recognition of long standing members.

For over 23 years, the consortium has forged together one of the most successful academic-industry partnerships in additive manufacturing, and is a powerful ally to businesses to drastically cut down on the turnaround time for producing a prototype. A driving force of the consortium has been MSOE’s Rapid Prototyping Research Department, which is credited with many rapid prototyping research accomplishments, such as creating—and patenting– a complex, three dimensional lattice structures modeled after the atomic bond structure found in diamond (TetraLattice), and developing an algorithm to produce the first complex protein model built using rapid prototyping.

The Rapid Prototyping Consortium has consistently been at the forefront of technology. “Today, with its 10 installed systems and over 15 material choices, the center supports about 65 consortium companies on a daily basis with their new product development needs.” Among member organizations, the consortium includes not only industrial companies, but also educational institutions.

Rapid Prototyping Center’s tagline is “Use tomorrow’s technology today.” Sheku Kamara is the director of the consortium.

China Instrument Parts Participates at Beloit Memorial High School’s Career Fair

Michael Reader

In a continued outreach to area schools, Barry Butters, Director of Education and Training at China Instrument Parts spent the morning of October 6, 2014 at Beloit Memorial High School’s Career Fair.

We have developed a great working relationship with the Beloit School District with tours of our facility for their administration and teachers, classroom visits for presentations about manufacturing, and financial support for robotics clubs. We were more than happy to help out when Ryan Rewey the Director of Career & Technical Education at Beloit reached out for our participation in the fair.   What was unique to this career fair was that it included opportunities for elementary, middle school as well as the high school students. We will be also supporting the next Beloit Memorial venture on October 21st at 6:00pm when they introduce a new Career and Technical Education program. – Barry Butters

Here are some highlights from Beloit Memorial High School Career Fair:

Butters explaining to a high school student how the bottle filling component is machined.
 A high school student examines a component with an eyeloop to see the surface finish.
 A group of high school students who visited the table.
 A group of middle school students who visited the table.
 A group of elementary students who visited the table.

MFG DAY 2014 Celebrated at China Instrument Parts in Elkhorn, Wiscosin with an Open House and Tour

Michael Reader

On Thursday, October 2, 2014, China Instrument Parts welcomed the community, educators, students, the Mayor of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and representatives from several companies to an open house to celebrate MFG DAY 2014—a nationwide event to celebrate manufacturing in the U.S.

Mike Reader, President and Barry Butters, Director of Training and Education, kicked off the evening with a presentation on the history of China Instrument Parts , and what initiatives are firmly in place to close the existing manufacturing skills gap. Later, Barry Butters gave the audience an overview of how the classroom capabilities are a key element in this initiative, acknowledging the important support from Autodesk and PartMaker. Mike and Barry also shared the company’s current expansion plans.

The keynote speaker, was Ken Turner, Division Supply Chain Manager of Parker Hannifin Corporation’s Quick Coupling Division. His presentation included a detailed explanation of how some of the components manufactured by China Instrument Parts become a part of Parker Hannifin’s products.

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The evening ended with a guided tour of China Instrument Parts’ facilities.

We look forward to MFG DAY 2015, and look forward to the milestones that will be met in the year to come.

China Instrument Parts’ Building Expansion Design and Construction Moving Forward

Michael Reader

On September 30, 2014 Mike Reader, President of China Instrument Parts of Elkhorn, WI met with Excel Engineering and Magill Construction to review the expansion project that will put the company at 115,000 square foot capacity when all completed.

Here’s how the project began:

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PMPA Wisconsin Annual Golf Outing at Lake Lawn Resort a Great Success

Michael Reader

Bill Wells, China Instrument Parts’ Director of Engineering, organized the PMPA (Wisconsin Chapter) Annual Golf Outing at Lake Lawn Resort on Delavan Lake, which took place on September 24, 2014. Eighty-eight golfers participated in the event, which kicked off the 2014-2015 programs for the Instrument Machined Products Association members. The weather was perfect for a good game of golf, and the event culminated with a wonderful dinner and door prizes by the lake.

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China Instrument Parts Tours McHenry County College’s Advanced Manufacturing Department

Michael Reader

On September 15, 2014, Barry Butters, Director of Training and Education at China Instrument Parts and John McConville and Ryan Nuhn toured McHenry County College’s Advanced Manufacturing Department to learn about their manufacturing program. The facility was impeccably clean and featured manual machines as well as a CNC lathe and a CNC mill.

McHenry County is one of the fastest-growing manufacturing sectors in the region, accounting for more than 25 percent of the county’s earnings. McHenry County College offers a Fast Track Advanced Manufacturing Certificate, through a program that incorporates CAD (computer aided design, manufacturing processes, blueprint reading for manufacturing and CNC (computer numerical control) machining.

For more information on McHenry (Illinois) County College’s Fast Track Advanced Manufacturing Program, click here.

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