CNC Machining Camp, with Terry Iverson--EP 225

Terry Iverson is a lifer in the machining industry. His grandfather sold machines for Hardinge over 100 years ago, and for 40 years he ran the Hardinge machinery distributor for the Midwest. 

Today Terry focuses his efforts on getting young people in America into manufacturing. He wrote two books directed at parents to open their eyes to manufacturing careers for their children.

His latest project is a machining camp called Camp CHAMP, in which middle school kids are mentored by high school kids running CNC machines.

Even though Terry is 20 years older than me, I feel like we really connect we talk. We’re both third generations in a family machine tool business. We’re both creatives, and we both love to reflect on serendipity in our lives.

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Link to Graff-Pinkert’s Acquisitions and Sales promotion!

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Main Points

Choosing a Trade in United States Vs. Europe

Terry Iverson: In Switzerland and Germany, they ask young people early in life to figure out what they’re passionate and skilled at doing. At like 14, 15 years old. 

Noah Graff: How does a 14 or 15 year old know what they’re meant to do?

Terry: Sometimes they do. In this country, internships are the answer. I write a lot about that because you don’t know what you’re passionate about or what you’re even good at unless you try it. It’s awesome if you could get an internship when you’re a teenager, that’s life-changing.

And if someone gets an internship in something and they say, “I hate this,” that’s not a bad thing. You just saved yourself potentially four years of college studying something that you should never study.

Noah: I think one of the great things about the United States is that we’re into trying different things.

Terry: There’s no question. But I think the biggest takeaway is that we need to spend more time empowering our young people, our children. What are they really good at? What are they skilled at? What are they passionate about? And allowing them the freedom to pursue something that they’ll spend a lot of time doing and presumably enjoy and do very well.

Camp CHAMP

Noah: Tell me how the CNC Machining Camp came about?

Terry: I did a camp. I actually picked up and shipped a CNC machine down to Florida at my expense. I set it up, programmed it, took an optical inspection system down with me, took a week off work and spent time with 10 high school young people and taught them about manufacturing.

What I realized is, not including the hard costs, just the cost of the machine tools, it was 10 grand. 

What it taught me is that this was not a sustainable role or path in t