Filling the Pipeline

John Bolanda has spent decades in manufacturing, first as a machinist, then in quality, and today as a training specialist at Metal Craft in Elk River, Minnesota and Riverside in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a joint company specializing in engineering, design, and precision manufacturing. He also teaches quality and inspection courses at Anoka Technical College, work that has given him a front-row seat to appreciating that there aren’t enough instructors to keep pace with industry demand.

We recently interviewed Bolanda for the “Four Questions” feature in the next issue of Enterprise Minnesota magazine. He offered insight on preparing the next generation of manufacturing employees in the midst of a shortage of instructors.

“At the collegiate level, instructors are stretched thin, and everybody is trying to figure out how to help students who come with all kinds of challenges — language barriers, home-life barriers, financial pressures,” Bolanda says. High schools face the same strains.

He says one part of the solution is to look for future instructors right on the shop floor. He sees people at Metal Craft & Riverside every day who could fill the gap.

“There are a lot of people in manufacturing who have the knowledge and the passion to be excellent instructors,” he says. “They just don’t know it, and the pathway to get them into a classroom isn’t clear. I’d love to see the industry figure out a way to get those people teaching.”

The shortage is especially acute among quality technicians. Bolanda says placement from his program is 100 percent.

This spring, a recruiter from Los Alamos National Laboratory, a diploma-based quality program he says is hard to find anywhere else in the country, traveled from New Mexico and offered jobs on the spot to all five of Bolanda’s graduating students. Closer to home, Metal Craft & Riverside has hired 38 new employees since last summer and still has 15 openings.

Bolanda is optimistic about the next generation, pointing to students he’s mentored through Elk River’s career and technical education program. He describes them as “little sponges” and says they are committed and eager to learn.

The potential is great for those students. “What we teach is also, frankly, AI-resistant,” he says. “You still have to operate equipment, analyze results, and interface with engineers and machinists.”

His advice to students is simple: find work where you look at the clock and think, “I need four more hours” instead of “I have four more hours left.”

Manufacturing can be that for a lot of people, Bolanda says. “We just need more of them to find out.”

The full interview with Bolanda includes additional insights on how he became an instructor and built his teaching career. Look for it in the Fall issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine, due out in late August.

Industry News

Niron Magnetics scales rare-earth-free magnet production
July 17, MSP Business Journal

Mid-America manufacturing sector improves despite job losses and high inflation
July 17, Mississippi Valley Publishing

Startup Swinergy targets midsized farms with innovative biogas system
July 17, MSP Business Journal

NVent hits $3.9B in sales as AI chip cooling drives 30% growth
July 16, MSP Business Journal

Could lesser-known Niron Magnetics boost manufacturing on Minnesota’s Iron Range?
July 14, MinnPost