Are you worried about robots? I wasn’t until I saw the video of a robot built in Pisa, Italy, that could show emotion by change in mechanical facial muscles. The face looked so real it was scary. When they perfect the synching of the voice and face we will be close to the day of the robot girlfriend. Could this be the solution to the shortage of women in China? (see below for a video)
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My niece Joann Minerbi lives in Los Angeles and has been a graphic designer for almost 20 years. Her field has been commoditized and many jobs exported, and she feels burned out. She is thinking of training to become a CNC machinist and is wondering what options exist in the L.A. area to learn the skills and get a well paying position. Any suggestions?
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Seven weeks until IMTS in Chicago and the only people who have mentioned it to me are those in the machine tool fraternity. For better or worse the big American show may be on its way to being an artifact as people shop for machines and accessories online. IMTS, which is put on by AMT, is already proclaiming 82,000 visitors even though the show has not yet taken place and there will be a lot of people just from the army of folks exhibiting. I see IMTS as important, even just as a biannual get together for machinery insiders.
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Mike Trout, a 20-year-old, will most likely be Rookie of the Year in the American League and may be the Most Valuable Player. He is being compared to Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio. Yet Mike Trout was the 25th player drafted in 2009. He is The Natural, yet so many teams, scouts, and general managers undervalued him – even Billy Beane. The kid was amazing in high school but he was from New Jersey – and the conventional wisdom is that great players come from Florida, Texas, California or the Caribbean. Stupidity is buried in conformity of thinking.
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Isn’t Joe Kernan on CNBC’s Squawk Box the most obnoxious person on TV? He does have a lot of competition – Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, and Ed Schultz come to mind. But Kernan absolutely nauseates me with his know-it-all smugness. Any other candidates come to mind?
Question: Where is the best place to train to be a CNC operator in your area?
Watch a video of the Android robot capable of expressing human emotions here.
7 Comments
Lloyd: Is everybody on vacation. There are great training programs in Berlin, Stuttgart, and Muenchen, Any little town in Switzerland. Or you may wish to try the vocational junior colleges in the sun belt of this country. For a varied education in the metal trades one should include not only CNC but also fine blanking, cold extrusion and any other related trades.
Symbol Job Training in Skokie IL, http://www.symboljobtraining.com/ seem to be doing a great service in CNC training. My kid is working to pay for classes starting next year. I visited the school in the spring and was impressed. Also, I know of a couple shops, one located in North Carolina and the other in South Elgin, that hired grads from Symbol. Both are very HAPPY with them.
Vincennes University, Vincennes, IN has a fantastic program that blends CAD, CAM, machine operation, robot simulation and robot programming.
Cleveland Industrial Training Center (in Cleveland, OH) does an exceptional job training CNC operators for the trade. They recently got involved in training Swiss-type operators on a Citizen A20VII, fulfilling a great need in Ohio and Western PA in the Swiss industry. The Swiss-type operator and programming classes were so successful and demand so high, they opened a 2nd facility in Lake county (OH), working on a Citizen L20. Highly recommend their courses to anyone (as I myself have attended). Information can be found at http://www.clevelandindustrialtraining.com/ .
Forgot to add, I love Joe Kernan. Think he’s entertaining/funny and largely agree with him on his views. He’s a Cincinnati guy too so I have to stand by my fellow Ohioan.
Regarding CNC jobs in the L.A. area, we market machinery to CNC Tool and Cutter manufacturing shops. The L.A. area has a significant number of cutting tool manufacturers in it and that market is very busy right now and has been for a while. I would encourage your niece to consider talking to a cutting tool manufacturing shop. There is generally not formal school-type training available for cutting tool making so working up the ladder internally in a good company is the way to go.
Why would anyone train to be a CNC operator? Go all the way and become a CNC Machinist. Big difference! And the best place to learn is in a small job shop. Work hard, show an interest and have a good attitude and you can go far.