Milwaukee Area Technical College graduated 12 dislocated workers from an accelerated bilingual CNC program last week.
Programs are occasionally offered in several languages in partnership with the Milwaukee HIRE Center, which provides re-employment services to dislocated workers. This program was Spanish/English.
Many manufacturing companies are looking not for perfect English, but for someone who understands how to read blueprints, operate a CNC machine and make precise measurements, said Duane Schultz, associate dean in MATC’s School of Technical and Applied Sciences.
Manufacturing skills programs are also often offered in Hmong, Schultz said. MATC will work with the students who have graduated to find them placement in manufacturing jobs.