Meet More Celebrated Chicago Apprentices
AMBA Chicago’s winner of its 2016 Mold Your Career Award for apprentices, Ryan Hassett, was one of five apprentices nominated by the companies they work for, and each of them deserves a nod of appreciation.
Ryan Hassett won the AMBA Chicago's 2016 Mold Your Career Award, but his fellow nominees also deserve some recognition as bright stars of our industry's future.
My December 16 blog put a spotlight on the AMBA Chicago’s winner of its 2016 Mold Your Career Award for apprentices, Ryan Hassett. Ryan was one of five apprentices nominated by the companies they work for, and I thought each of them deserved a nod of appreciation. It’s not easy to garner that level of praise from this industry’s discerning moldmakers, after all.
As mentioned in the earlier blog, Ryan Hassett is apprenticing at Craftsman Tool & Mold in Aurora, Illinois. Ryan currently works in the roughing department and is in his second year of training at the Technology and Manufacturing Association (TMA) apprenticeship program, where he has gained the ability to run both horizontal and vertical machines. As Tim Roth at Craftsman stated in the nomination form, “With his ability to learn, his enthusiasm to continue to hone his skills, and his reliability, Ryan has been working his way through various departments in our manufacturing facility. He started out knowing nothing about the trade or machining, and has now gained the knowledge and ability to operate our gun drills, surface grinding machines holding tight tolerances, horizontal side work machines, and vertical roughing machines.”
George Christiansen, III of Pelco Tool & Mold in Glendale Heights, Illinois, has been a moldmaker apprentice for nearly two years. He is honing his skills through the AMBA’s apprentice program and has successfully transferred from manual to CNC equipment.
John Korczynski of Matrix Tooling in Wood Dale, Illinois, has been an apprentice moldmaker since February of 2015 and operates the EDM hole sinker to machine wire start holes as small as .010”. He also operates an Okamoto surface grinder. In the nomination form, John is also said to be capable of grinding tolerances of ±0.0002 inch on mold components, “which is impressive for any machinist, especially an apprentice.” Matrix also nominated apprentice John Ziegenhorn who has worked there four years and has been in apprentice training since September of 2015. John is able to maintain some of the company’s most complicated molds with his careful attention to detail, according to his nomination form, and these molds contain many small and delicate components that would be challenging for anyone.
Chris Palminteri has been at Janler Corporation in Chicago, Illinois, for four years and is a junior moldmaker. According to his nomination form, he moved through his training at the TMA apprentice program quickly and at a very high level. In the past year, Janler says Chris has co-led both a 48-cavity and 72-cavity project. “We believe Chris is a leader for the future of the industry.”
From what’s been said about these young men, the future is indeed bright for them and for the moldmaking industry. “It was difficult to choose a winner from among these nominees,” Francine Petrucci, AMBA Chicago president says. “They are all obviously valued members of each company’s team and deserve to be proud of what they have accomplished so far in what will be remarkable careers in the future.”
The winner of the Mold Your Career Award is chosen by the AMBA Chicago board of directors using blind nominations, meaning all company and apprentice names, and any other identifying comments, are blacked out. The winner received a $1,000 gift card and all other nominees received a $200 gift card to acknowledge their excellence in the field. Congratulations to all of the apprentices and best wishes in the coming New Year!
Related Content
Confronting the Mold Design Talent Drought
Recently, I reposted on LinkedIn the results of an informal survey we conducted, which revealed a shortage of skilled mold designers. It quickly gained a lot of traction. Given the response, I thought I'd summarize the feedback and keep the conversation going.
Read MoreHands-on Workshop Teaches Mold Maintenance Process
Intensive workshop teaches the process of mold maintenance to help put an end to the firefighting culture of many toolrooms.
Read MoreUnique Mold Design Apprenticeship Using Untapped Resources
To help fill his mold design skills gap, Jeff Mertz of Anova Innovations, is focused on high schools and underprivileged school districts, a school that has lower graduation and college entrance rates. The goal is a student-run enterprise.
Read MoreThe Role of Social Media in Manufacturing
Charles Daniels CFO of Wepco Plastics shares insights on the role of social media in manufacturing, how to improve the “business” side of a small mold shop and continually developing culture.
Read MoreRead Next
Reasons to Use Fiber Lasers for Mold Cleaning
Fiber lasers offer a simplicity, speed, control and portability, minimizing mold cleaning risks.
Read MoreHow to Use Continuing Education to Remain Competitive in Moldmaking
Continued training helps moldmakers make tooling decisions and properly use the latest cutting tool to efficiently machine high-quality molds.
Read MoreHow to Use Strategic Planning Tools, Data to Manage the Human Side of Business
Q&A with Marion Wells, MMT EAB member and founder of Human Asset Management.
Read More