November 2025 Volume 7

FORGING RESEARCH

Funding and Strategic Investment The MAC Project was funded, in part, by the Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation (FIERF), with a grant award in the amount of $57,143. Blackhawk Technical College would like to thank FIERF for the trust they put in BTC as the first technical college to be awarded with a grant through their foundation. This support highlights FIERF’s critical role in ensuring that education keeps pace with technological change and continues to drive innovation in the forging industry. This project would not have been possible without the many people who contributed, including the students who took on the challenge of designing and building this cell, the faculty for guiding the students through this project, and the companies that provided their support and expertise with a special thank you to Scot Forge and Finkl Steel.

Conclusion The Manufacturing Automation Cell Project at Blackhawk Technical College is more than a lab, it’s a blueprint for how education and industry can partner to solve shared challenges. Despite delays and hurdles, the project has delivered new curriculum, cutting edge equipment, and most importantly, a surge of motivated students ready to enter advanced manufacturing. For the forging industry, it represents hope. Hope that by investing in partnerships like this, we can build a steady pipeline of skilled workers. Hope that automation and Industry 4.0 won’t outpace our ability to train the people who make them work. And hope that the future of forging will be shaped by technicians as resilient, resourceful, and forward looking as those who brought the MAC Project to life. Because in the end, forging the workforce of tomorrow starts today and BTC’s MAC

Project is proof that the future is already taking shape. The full report can be found at www.forging.org/technical. Bryan Coddington Engineering Technology Instructor MATT Division Chair Blackhawk Technical College Email: bcoddington@blackhawk.edu Phone: 608-757-7643

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