A Thanksgiving Note From Mike Reader
As I look back to an incredible year for Precision Plus, but especially to the real results achieved to overcome the skills gap, I realize that, my level of gratitude to every person who has helped to make this possible is beyond words.
My personal thanks go to our Precision Plus Team: individuals whose combined dedication to continuous improvement help us to exceed expectations and build upon our reputation; to our partners: vendors, customers and everyone in the supply chain who drive us towards innovation and customer satisfaction; and to everyone with whom we share our vision of a highly skilled country.
I recently received a letter from Cory Snowdin, New Product Development Engineer at Eaton Corporation. We met last month at a MSOE Rapid Prototyping Consortium meeting. His words struck a chord with me as they reaffirmed that restoring our youth’s hands-on technical strength will only make us a better country. In the true spirit of Thanksgiving, he writes:
What really interested me was during your presentation when you started talking about working with students in high school and college to educate them about manufacturing and skilled labor. I grew up working on my best friend’s family dairy farm at home in Michigan, we also had a heavy equipment repair shop with a small machine shop attached to it. His family sort of adopted me after I started working with them when I was about 13 so spent a lot of time learning about farming, repair work, machining and welding. His dad was the one that suggested I become an engineer because I was smart enough to make it through the math and had a good understanding of mechanical devices. Without this background, I would not be 1/10th of the engineer that I am today.
For that very reason, I wish to thank the educators, students, legislators, suppliers, fellow manufacturers and organizations, which have in one way or another, contributed to bringing awareness to the technical education crisis in our country, and who have taken decisive steps to change that course.
Happy Thanksgiving and best wishes for a bountiful year!
Mike Reader
