PRECISION MACHINED SOLUTIONS | (262) 743-1700

Mark Beilman Joins Precision Plus as Its Director of Education and Training

Michael Reader

On August 3, 2015, Precision Plus (PPI) of Elkhorn, Wisconsin welcomed Mark Beilman as its new Director of Education and Training, to carry on the position first held by Barry Butters.

Beilman’s first job after graduating from the University of Wisconsin at Platteville was with Miniature Precision Components of Walworth, WI, where he served as a research and development engineer for seven years. From 2005 until 2012, he worked at Mukwonago High School as a technical education teacher, and prior to joining Precision Plus he taught technical education at East Troy High School.

When I first started contemplating a career change out of teaching in public education, I wanted to find a job that still included some interaction with young people, but within manufacturing; something I was missing since my days working at MPC, an injection molding company based in Walworth, WI.

I knew I had found that when Barry approached me and discussed this position.  I had worked closely with Barry while I was a teacher at East Troy, placing Youth Apprentice Amanda Mudlaff at Precision Plus  Barry told me how his job was a rewarding mix of working with young people and getting the word out about manufacturing.  He was right. It has been great so far!

As Mike has said, I have big shoes to fill but believe I am up for the challenge.  This challenge has been made easier by all the wonderful people who work at Precision Plus, how they have made me feel welcome, and helped me when I have questions.  It sure has been a whirlwind first three weeks: from sifting through files, learning the Swiss machining process, to meeting interesting people such as Bob Klockars, President of Walworth State Bank, or visiting Gateway’s new manufacturing facility. 

So far my experiences have exceeded my expectations.  I am excited to get our new group of youth apprentices started in the fall and to keep spreading the word about the benefits of a manufacturing career.

-Mark

Mark Beilman and his wife of 14 years, are originally from Madison, but have lived in Walworth County since 1998 and consider it their home. The have two sons, Raymond (10 years old) and John (6 years old). Beilman coaches U8 soccer in Williams Bay.

The Beilmans recently bought a “new” boat (a 1978 Yar-Craft), and are excited to get out fishing and boating as much as they can as the summer winds down. They have a cabin up north, in Superior, WI, where they enjoy spending time in the summer months.

When time permits, Mark enjoys working with antique cars. He is the proud owner of a 1964 Ford 250 and a 1955 T-Bird.

Mark Beilman can be reached by phone or email.

Gateway Technical College Celebrates Its Second Round of CNC High School Boot Camp Graduates

Michael Reader

Ten Racine High School students successfully completed a 28-week CNC Boot Camp program at Gateway Technical College’s SC Johnson iMET Center in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. The completion ceremony took place on May 29, 2015. Barry Butters, Director of Education and Training at Precision Plus was honored to be a part of the ceremony.

This is the second year during which high school seniors were able to attend a rigorous program that combines regular high school classes with college accredited CNC courses and on-the-job training and mentoring.

A new crop of eager high school seniors is getting ready to begin the 2015-2016 school year Youth CNC Boot Camp on July 13, 2015. For the first time, this program will be offered in three counties within the Gateway district: Racine, Kenosha and Walworth. Information is available by contacting Rick Lofy.

Precision Plus is deeply vested in the Gateway CNC Boot Camp program—especially in its Walworth County, Elkhorn campus. Recently, the company made a $50,000 donation to assist with equipment purchase for the new Elkhorn Campus Manufacturing Center. Barry Butters has also provided guidance to graduating students by sharing the soft skills necessary for seeking a job, and by conducting mock interviews with the graduates. Recently, on May 22nd, he also spoke to Gateway’s student success staff at the Elkhorn Campus to review the partnerships that exist with local manufacturers.

Precision Plus congratulates the new graduates and wishes them continued success in their manufacturing careers.

Precision Plus Continues On Its Manufacturing Pilgrimage, Leaving No Classroom Unturned

Michael Reader

On May 15, 2015, Barry Butters, Director of Education and Training, representing Precision Plus of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, visited three 4th grade classes at Tibbits Elementary School in the Elkhorn Area School District. Earlier in the year, Butters visited second and third graders to create excitement about manufacturing…or making things from scratch, as the school had recently embarked in Project Lead The Way’s (PLTW) Launch Program for young elementary school students.


However, being with the 4th graders allowed Butters to take the excitement to the next level. “This allowed me to use the Inventor software to probe the students understanding of two dimensional shapes and what happens when the shapes are extruded to a third dimension,” he said, “as when a circle extruded becomes a cylinder.”

Following the presentation, students were able to pick up and explore some of the parts made by Precision Plus, with a better understanding of the process from beginning to end.


Precision Plus thanks the Tibbits Elementary School students and their teachers for their time and attention, and shares their kind thank you notes.

STEM Education Event at Advanced Manufacturing Center on April 22, 2015 Features Elkhorn Area School District PLTW Students and Teachers, State Legislators and Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch

Michael Reader


In fall of 2014, Project Lead The Way (PLTW) announced a pilot program with a curriculum specifically designed for elementary school children, to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics arts (STEM). PLTW has had a solid record for rigorous and comprehensive curricula available to children from middle school through high school. Elkhorn Area School District was an early adopter of the elementary grades pilot program, the PLTW Launch Curriculum, which gives students an opportunity to explore and apply STEM sciences early on.

Dr. Joshua Schultz, Affiliate Director of PLTW at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), extended an invitation to Elkhorn Area School District PLTW students, as well as teachers and administrators, to participate in a Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development event and reception at the Advanced Manufacturing Center in Milton, WI on April 22, 2015, to celebrate the district’s accomplishments and receive a special recognition. Also invited were State of Wisconsin legislators, PLTW officials, Barry Butters from Precision Plus, and Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch.

[pb_slideshow group=”17″]

As planned, Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch was at hand to hand the special recognitions. So were William White, Vice President, Project Lead The Way Midwest Region, Jason Tadlock, District Administrator for the Elkhorn Area School District and Barry Butters, Director of Education and Training at Precision Plus

Students included Cullen Gahart (3rd Grade), Matthew Prokes (4th Grade), Natalie Petersen (5th Grade), Lesly Rodriguez (6th Grade), Gwen Nicholas (6th Grade), Wendy Remeeus (6th Grade), Elizabeth Wallace (11th Grade, Justice Bachtell (12th Grade), J.P. Griswold (12th Grade) and Kathryn Lieffrig (12th Grade). Teachers present were Eryca Card, Linda Frankenberg, Alex Hutson, Barry Butters and Jerry Iserloth. Jason Tadlock and Chris Trottier represented the administrators.

Teachers and administrators were asked to talk about their STEM initiatives, and to showcase their efforts to support education, their students, and reiterate the importance of STEM education policy decisions in Wisconsin. In addition, students from the Elkhorn Area School District displayed their projects and shared the value and lessons learned through their PLTW coursework.

The agenda included a continental breakfast, introductions and welcome by Tania Kilpatrick, CESA 6, an overview of PLTW in the Midwest Region by William White, presentations by Jason Tadlock, Barry Butters, Eryca Card and students, and by Thor Misko, Vice President of Development at PLTW. Dr. Joshua Schultz closed the program with final remarks about the event and the program.

And thank you, Elkhorn Area School District, for the shout out on their Facebook Page!

 

Precision Plus of Elkhorn, Wisconsin Presents Gateway Technical College with a Check for $50,000

Michael Reader

On April 16, 2015, Mike Reader, President and Owner of Precision Plus of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, presented a check in the amount of $50,000 to the Gateway Technical College Board. This contribution follows the announcement of a new manufacturing center that will be built and developed at the school’s Elkhorn Campus.

Mike Reader writes:

On behalf of our 65 dedicated manufacturing professionals here at Precision Plus, I was delighted to present a gift to the board members of Gateway Technical College.  Our check for $50,000 will go towards securing additional equipment/materials to enhance the students’ experience and better prepare them for their careers ahead.  In addition to the monetary support, this gesture serves merely as a starting point for a long-term partnership, as we also look forward to assisting with technical support, materials, mentoring and work experience opportunities.

Gateway Technical College has several campuses throughout the counties which it serves–Kenosha, Racine and Walworth—offering general curriculum studies, as well as targeted programs to address specific local industry needs.

For many decades, Southeast Wisconsin has been known for housing a cluster of Swiss precision manufacturers. Unfortunately, a training facility to address these specific needs was not available until now. I am pleased to announce that through the joint efforts of the Gateway leadership team and the engaged business community, Gateway Technical College will house a state-of-the-art training facility in its Elkhorn Campus.

It will unfold as a two-step solution starting in the fall of 2015 with new curriculum, equipment and instruction, followed by new brick/mortar and more equipment within a year.

 This new advanced manufacturing training lab will house state-of-the-art turning and milling equipment from strategic partner Haas Automation, coupled with a Tsugami S205 Swiss-type (sliding headstock) machine, compliments of the Morris Group and Morris Midwest.  It will be fitted with a Tracer 6’ magazine bar-feeding system from CNC Indexing & Feeding, along with a 1,000 PSI high-pressure pump to replicate real scenarios which the students are bound to also experience once in a real career track.

Joining me during the presentation also were Wall Mulvaney, John Holt and Dave Kramer, representing Haas Automation and the Gene Haas Foundation.  In addition to the equipment support, they also presented the Board with a check for $10,000 to fund ten-$1,000 student scholarships for those choosing to pursue a career in technical education focused on machining at Gateway Technical College.

 

Precision Plus’ Barry Butters Continues His Outreach to Area Schools by Promoting Manufacturing to Elementary Students

Michael Reader

On February 23, 2015 Barry Butters, Director of Education and Training at Precision Plus in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, visited Gaston Elementary School in Beloit to talk to second and third grade students. Then, on Wednesday, March 18th, he made the same presentation to the second grade classrooms at Westside Elementary School in Elkhorn. Both of the schools are participating in Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Launch Curriculum.

The presentation included sharing the story of manufacturing with the students, and how people who are strong in the STEM arts (science, technology, engineering and math) are the ones who can change the world. Butters also talked about the engineering design process as it is introduced in the PLTW curriculum.

 [pb_slideshow group=”16″]

“It is so cool to see the excitement of these young students holding parts and bar ends. It cannot be too early to plant the seeds of a potential career in the manufacturing field with these young students,” said Butters.

Learn more about Project Lead The Way Launch Curriculum here.

Third Annual Manufacturing Career Panel at Elkhorn Area High School on February 18, 2015, Draws a Large Crowd of Students

Michael Reader

For the third year in a row, Precision Plus in partnership with Elkhorn Area High School, presented a Manufacturing Career Panel to more than a hundred high school students from several area schools.

The event, which took place on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at Elkhorn Area High School was organized to explain to students what 21st century advanced manufacturing is and how it has changed over the last decades, to dispel old manufacturing myths, to talk about manufacturing career opportunities, and exciting educational opportunities available for students in the area.

The program was moderated by Mike Reader, President and Owner of Precision Plus, and by Barry Butters, the company’s Director of Education and Training. A shout-out was given to JoAnne Pella, Career Advisor of Elkhorn Area High School, for her contribution and dedication to make the panels possible.

The panelists were distinguished industry leaders Dennis Giesler, General Manager of Parker-Hannifin Quick Coupling Division, Dawn Tabat, COO of Generac, Geoff Martin, Principal and Senior Leader of GE Healthcare Partners, and Rick Lofy, Lean Six Sigma Instructor at Gateway Technical College. Click here to see their expanded bios.

All four panelists drew from their own experiences in manufacturing, sharing the broad spectrum of opportunities that exist within the industry at all levels. They all spoke about the next generation of advanced manufacturing professionals, and how they are looking at that generation, which included the students present, to carry the future. All speakers agreed that we live in an exciting time, when things are changing faster today than in the history of the world. And that these fast, dynamic, changing times require problem-solving, creative-thinking individuals who can move with the changes and have the ability to rapidly adapt and progress through collaboration and continuous improvement. Success now and in the future, they concluded, will be driven by the purpose, culture and passion of those individuals and companies who are committed to make a difference.

Precision Plus Delves into Remote Problem Solving and Instruction

Michael Reader

Barry Butters, Director of Education and Training at Precision Plus, teamed with Elkhorn Area High School’s Project Lead The Way (PLTW ) teacher Fred Ganter to give his Introduction to Engineering and Design (IED) students a chance to reverse engineer some obsolete components.

The premise of the project was that if an older machine had a component fail and a replacement component was no longer available, then a component replacement would have to be machined. To machine the component a print would be needed.

The students were broken into groups and assigned components to first sketch and then measure. The students then used Autodesk CAD Inventor software to model the components and finally develop a working print of the part.

Throughout the project, however, teams had a chance to interact and be coached remotely by Barry Butters, who is a certified PLTW Engineering Design and Development (EDD) instructor. He regularly logged in, in real time, into the system in order to view and discuss the progress of the projects with each individual team.

Elkhorn Youth CNC Boot Camp Information Program to be Held on March 25 and April 8, 2015

Michael Reader

Students and Parents! Don’t miss this opportunity to attend an informational session about the new CNC Boot Camp program coming to Gateway Technical College in Elkhorn, Wisconsin in July! The informational session will be held on March 25 and April 8, 2015.

The information session will be held on March 25 and April 8, 2015 at 5:30 pm and will be held at Walworth County Job Center, 400 County Road H. in Elkhorn. Contact  Marci Barr at 262-741-5263 for more information.

Check out what seniors already in the program at Gateway’s iMET Center are saying about it:

How Inventors, Institutions, Innovators, Educators and Businesses Collaborate to Forge a Brighter Future for Our Children: Two Case Studies

Michael Reader

Mukwonago and Beloit (located about 50 miles apart) are two school districts in Wisconsin,  whose students’ paths are not likely cross. However, there is a common thread which  the share:  students from both districts are equally as excited about technology, and are eager to join in extracurricular activities to create products and solve problems, by putting STEM-related principles to work.

Educators and facilitators at both school districts provide the direction, mentoring and encouragement to makeit possible to happen, understanding that the students’ inventions and innovations will need to be put to the test…perhaps through competition, or possibly in the field. Extracurricular initiatives such these are often halted by lack of funding and/or access to facilities, materials or tools that can take the project from design to reality. This is where Precision Plus. and the Milwaukee School of Engineering Rapid Prototyping Consortium come to play. More on that later.

People may know Dean Kamen as a prolific inventor with more than 150 patents to his name, including the famous Segway. However, Kamen is also well known for launching “FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,” an organization whose mission is to “transform culture by creating a world where STEM is celebrated, and where young people dream of being science and technology leaders.” FIRST celebrated its 26th anniversary on March 20, 2015. Kamen explains FIRST in this short video retrieved from their Facebook Page:

Early in the history of FIRST, Kamen enlisted the help of Woodie Flowers, PhD and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, to create the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), where high school teams would compete with robots they designed themselves. Twenty-eight U.S. teams participated in the first competition held in 1992. Today, there are over 800 teams competing globally.

In addition to the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) for grades 9-12, FIRST also sponsors three other competitions: The Junior FIRST LEGO League (Jr.FLL) for children ages 6 to 9, The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) for children 9-14 in the U.S.), and the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) for grades 9-12. In all instances, the competitions are designed for young people to “gain self-confidence, develop people and life skills, make new friends, and perhaps discover an unforeseen career path.”

First Case Study. One of the teams competing this year in FIRST is The Mukwonago BEARs (Building Extremely Awesome Robots), also known as FRC Team #930 from Mukwonago, Wisconsin. The team is participating in two regional competitions: Wisconsin Regional (March 18-21) at the University of Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Panther Arena, and Buckeye Regional (March 25-28) at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Earlier in the year, FRC Team #930 contacted Precision Plus for support… not financial, but prototyping support. The team needed access to state-of-the-art equipment and technology to design and prototype one-of-a-kind components for their robot. The perfect place to get this accomplished was the MSOE Rapid Prototyping Consortium Center to which only members have access for a specified number of lab hours. As an active member of the consortium, Precision Plus was able to donate lab time for FRC Team #930 to use in time for the competition.

Second Case Study. Precision Plus also had the opportunity to support the launch of Beloit’s FIRST LEGO League for middle school students, The cyBER Team. The program is led by excellent educators and facilitators, with an added layer of mentoring, which is provided by high school students who are also involved in FRC. Through this type of engagement, the high school students are also learning to better communicate and teach. Last November, the cyBER team competed for the first time with great first-time results.

This video documents cyBER Team’s progress during their first year.

Twenty-six years ago, Dean Kamen had an idea, which is continues to grow. Precision Plus is happy to support the school districts of Beloit and Mukwonago and wishes them continued success.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7