Training our youth on industry grade manufacturing equipment in a public school is possible. Hawthorne High - School of Manufacturing & Engineering: 9000 sq.ft. of pure innovation. Machine shops, engineering labs, fabrication zones, robotics, 3D printing, and a garage + work yard. Built for makers. Dive in. [1/12]

this is reindustrialization

This is what makes me want to keep teaching. I have the budget to keep up, the bloody knuckles to make it happen, and friends in industry to show me how. My goal is simple: teach what industry needs me to teach.

This is the Mission Add 500 years start with the people mas- Manufacturing as a Service focus on the people Acid test- when a kid is proud to says I work in manufacturing open.spotify.com/episode/6TD…

Starting today, I'm going to give the world a first hand view of what it is like to own, operate and grow a small manufacturing business. Beginning with this picture. This is a picture of my not-so-glamorous shop in northern Illinois. It's also the reality of thousands of other small machine shops across the country. Mostly older machines (newest 2019), less organized and dirtier than I aim for. I've worked here since I was 13, ran it since I was 24 and owned it since I was 26. I’m 32 now. I’ve been considered an old soul and have always kept it real, but what I am about to do scares me. See, my Opa started this company in 1977 and he always wanted to break $1M in revenue. To celebrate him and the 50th anniversary of Center Tool Company I’m going to do it. I will double our revenue AND do it publicly. We are on target for $500k in ’26 (pretty much been 500-800k since 1977, very unspectacular) In ’27 we will break a MIL. In the grand scheme of things that's pretty small, but it could be entertaining to ride along on the journey. I’m going to show basically every aspect of what I know and how I do things. I will post about stuff and include actual screen shots, pictures, statements, and documents. Maybe some videos of day in the life or the joys of defense contracting... I’ll break down the inner workings of not just turning raw metal into finished tooling or parts, but also working with customers, banks, lawyers, the government, family/business and family-business dynamics, personal/business finances, and raising a young family through this. What do you want to know and/or what I am doing wrong? Comment or DM America sits at the precipice of reindustrialization. We have a monumental opportunity in front of us. It’s time to burn the ships and go all in. Bringing manufacturing back to our country could return a healthy middle class and economic boom across small town America - where I live.

Proof that the young want to build. @AntNeri10

What if I told you I could direct them to a vocation that would solve their problem.

What are we doing with all of these kids who are telling us they want to build?

Building and mentoring youth that have the grind in them is how we win. It starts with opportunities, it ends with worker that’s willing to do the same in return.

America is awake. Builders have the opportunity to create again. Companies like Hadrian are proving what’s possible by investing in factories and people. If you want to do the hardest work of your life and create jobs, Build Atoms. I’m ready to build that workforce.

Some kids just don’t want to start manufacturing on a computer. So I start them with a ruler, sheet metal and hand tools. Little by little templates come from a laser. Shapes are cut on a waterjet. Forming means 3D printing a die. Then they say…We built that.

This really made me think. I’ve always tried to mimic industry in my high school shop. If industry is becoming AI-native, what AI platforms should we be exposing students to today? ChatGPT? Claude? Cursor? Something else? Need to teach the teacher…

As teacher that encourages my students not to design the wheel on first attempt I encourage them to build the wheel, Learn from that experience Build a foundation of based on experiences not theory There are many Tomas’s in the world Build more builders Stop gate keeping

This is real problem, happens way too much with opportunities in manufacturing. Fighting a culture that does not see manufacturing or building physical things as a viable path. The dinner table conversation about manufacturing has to change. All the credit to @GuseMrsco for creating the opportunity. We need many more like them.

This is exactly what happens when you give a hard working driven kid the right resources and access to building cool shit. There are many more like him sitting in schools and dorms ready to break records. Give kids the right tools. BOOM Amazing work!

an uncomfortable truth of reindustrialization: no matter how much money flows in, none of it matters unless an average 18 year old weighing college can see the trades as a viable path