May 2025 Volume 7

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

Why METAL? METAL is a national initiative to support workforce needs in casting, forging and plate production. The project is led by IACMI-The Composites Institute and is supported by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program. Casting and forging are vital to the nation’s defense, said Dr. Matt Draper, technical director of metallurgy and manufacturing for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. “The shrinking supply chain for critical defense materials demands an immediate response,” he said. “We must rebuild a modern workforce, technologically adept and capable of meeting the demands of our defense industry with efficiency and innovation.” Additional METAL partners include Pennsylvania State University, University of Tennessee, The Ohio State University, University of Alabama, Tennessee Tech University, Michigan Tech University, and the Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF). As part of METAL, IACMI is also developing online training that supplements the related training. The free training is available on the METAL website, www.metalforamerica.org. Apprenticeship programs normally last from one to four years. At completion of the program, the employee is highly skilled and ready to mentor the next group of apprentices.

Input from forging operators across the country is critical to the success of METAL. An advisory board with industry representation is helping guide the future of the project. In addition, JFF is developing a new one-year forging operator apprenticeship and is seeking industry experts to review it. If you are interested in getting involved with the METAL project, sign up at metalforamerica.org. To learn more about resources available to support work-based learning, contact Becky Calwell at bcalwell@jff.org. You can learn more about JFF’s work at jff.org.

Becky Calwell is a senior manager at Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit transforming the U.S. workforce and education systems to drive economic success.

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