BIG KAISER Donates to NRL

At the first general session of the annual meeting of the National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA; Cleveland, OH) held in Tucson, AZ, Chris Kaiser, the president and chief executive officer of BIG KAISER Precision Tooling Inc. (Hoffman Estates, IL), presented a donation for $6,675 to benefit the NTMA’s National Robotics League (NRL). This was an increase of more than 27 percent over the prior year. This donation was the result of a year-end promotion by the company, giving back to the association a percentage of every order by an NTMA or AMT member company. Manufacturers placed orders for cutting tools, tool holders, workholding and tool measurement systems, earning funds for the NRL at the same time.

The NRL is a manufacturing workforce development program where students design and build remote controlled robots (Bots) to face-off in a gladiator-style competition. Through the manufacturing process of Bot building, students’ imaginations are captured as they design, build and compete with their own robotic creations. Through this hands-on effort along with industry partnerships, students gain practical knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) – all essential skills for manufacturing.

“We all know it is critical for us to engage the next generation in manufacturing at the company, community and national levels,” explained Kaiser. “This year-end promotion is one way for us to show support for the NTMA and to promote workforce development and STEM programs.”

“The NRL is all about the community collaborating together to engage manufacturing’s next generation. We truly appreciate this generous contribution and their continued leadership in supporting initiatives to close the manufacturing skills gap,” said Bill Padnos, the NTMA workforce development manager. “We are also grateful to all of our members who participated in this program.”

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