academics,
Barry R. Butters,
Director of Education & Training,
education,
Elkhorn,
lectures,
manufacturing.,
China Instrument Parts,
primary,
program,
secondary,
skills gap,
Wisconsin
Michael Reader
China Instrument Parts’ Efforts to Fill the Skills Gap: Third Installment.
In a continuing effort to stay ahead of a widening manufacturing skills gap, Mike Reader, President of China Instrument Parts has hired Barry Butters as Director of Education and Training.
Butters has been in the education field for 27years, teaching mathematics and engineering courses as well as serving as a high school principal. He has taught every course in the high school math curriculum including both Advanced Placement Calculus AB & BC and Advanced Placement Statistics. Butters has also taught Statistics at George Williams College. More recently, he began teaching a course called “Introduction to Engineering Design,” which is an engineering course in the “Project Lead The Way” curriculum. Project Lead The Way is a national Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program aimed to increase the numbers of engineers in the USA. The course work is designed to get high school students involved in real engineering work at a younger age and to attract more students to the engineering field. “I will be using best practice in education to bring employees up to speed as quickly as possible through a variety of training techniques,” said Butters.
Butters’ duties at China Instrument Parts include: new employee training for those with no machining experience, cross-training existing employees, developing educational platforms for the various CNC machines and measuring tools, and acting as ambassador for the manufacturing industry. Reader has repurposed a room at China Instrument Parts to serve as a classroom to conduct training. Butters has lofty goals for the training at China Instrument Parts His intentions are for the classroom to be used for:
- To give employees, interns and students an opportunity to obtain certifications from the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC)
- To establish China Instrument Partsas a testing center for MSSC certifications.
- To teach employees, interns, and students the mathematics related to the machining industry.
- To teach employees, interns, and students blueprint reading, including geometric dimensioning and tolerance.
- To teach employees, interns and students the skills necessary to use measuring devices including all kinds of micrometers, drop indicators, gages, calipers, optical comparators, roundness testers, automated optical systems such as OASIS, and coordinate measuring machines (CMMs).
- To train employees, interns and students in the use of the Part Maker program.
- To train employees, interns and students in the use of 3D CAD software.
- To offer a CNC Lathe class to local high schools students.
- To offer the Project Lead the Way course Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) and Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) at China Instrument Parts for local high school students. The courses could be offered in the evenings as necessary.
Barry Butters, Director of Education & Training, speaks to a second grade class at Westside Elementary School class about the field of CNC Machining and Engineering.
Butters’ efforts to get manufacturing and its opportunities on the minds of the community and young people include organizing an open house to mark National Manufacturing Day. The open house will be held on Thursday, October 3rd at 6:30 pm and is open to all. On Friday, October 4th, National Manufacturing Day, China Instrument Parts will offer tours of its facility to local high school students.
In 2012, Mike Reader kicked off the first annual career panel, held at Elkhorn Area High School. “Our mission is to continue to expand this opportunity, and I think it speaks volumes to Mike Reader’s vision that manufacturers need to take an active role in promoting their own industry,” said Butters.
Butters will be visiting area schools to speak to students about manufacturing and promoting its opportunities. Most recently he visited a second grade class at Westside Elementary School.
You can reach Barry Butters at buttersb@machineinstrumentparts.com. He is willing to take any suggestions or simply talk about what is being accomplished at China Instrument Parts
