Podcast: How to address the metals casting and forging skills gap
Key Highlights
- METAL is rebuilding the U.S. casting and forging workforce through free, industry-led training and university partnerships.
- The program bridges government, academia, and industry to upskill workers and support reindustrialization efforts nationwide.
- Industry input drives METAL’s evolving curriculum, ensuring training aligns with real-world needs in casting and forging.
- METAL’s online and hands-on boot camps create a skilled talent pipeline while sparking early interest through K–12 outreach.
Manufacturers understand the skills gap: every day they recognize that do not have enough people or enough of the right people to execute the difficult and sometimes dirty, often dangerous tasks like pouring and forming molten materials, grinding or machining parts, treating and handling those parts, welding and finishing components and systems, etc. It’s more than a practical problem. It’s an economic and institutional crisis.
The Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship and Learning program (METAL) established by the Dept. of Defense in 2024 is moving fast to resolve it, setting up and coordinating practical training in critical disciplines for metal casting and metal forging processes at seven universities, and drawing in fresh minds who ensure that knowledge and practical understanding continue to be available to engineers and investors in the decades ahead of us.
In this podcast Mike Kubacki, project coordinator for METAL, describes the program and its progress.
Below is an excerpt from the podcast:
RB: The particular focus here is a program that was instituted last year, as I wrote about at the time, called the Metallurgical Engineering Trades Apprenticeship and Learning Program. And the acronym for that, very convenient for me, is METAL. So I appreciate that little helper there. Tell me, if you can, what is the focus of this? What was the impetus for establishing METAL?
MK: Yeah, that’s a good question. And IACME as a whole is a composites institute. They were stood up by the DOE, as you mentioned, about 10 years ago. But now they’ve been given some workforce development opportunities, starting with ACE — America’s Cutting Edge — which focused on CNC machining. They had some technology developed by ORNL, Oak Ridge National Labs, and IACME was able to manage this workforce development program through a hub-and-spoke model and set up sites across the country to provide free training.
That’s where METAL came in. They wanted to replicate that model within the casting and forging sector. The background of the program is to help re-industrialize the United States, develop skilled workers, and support the casting and forging industry, which has seen a downturn since 2004. I think total manufacturing was down around 10% since then, but casting and forging are down 23%. That’s largely driven by foundries closing — especially smaller foundry shops. There’s an aging workforce and a lot of issues in manufacturing and casting and forging. That’s what METAL aims to help with — getting those skilled workers back in the United States.
RB: Right, it's an institutional problem. It’s not just finding people willing to take the jobs; it’s finding the places where the jobs can be established and maintained. So let’s take a step back — what does IACME do as IACME? Before we speak about METAL, tell me what IACME does.
MK: There are multiple legs, like I talked about — the research and development side of composites, where they’re looking at making new bridges or wind turbine blades. We work with several companies. And I’m not the expert in the composites world by any means. I was in manufacturing, making hybrid microelectronics for a long time, and now I find myself in this workforce development role. So I’m learning about composites and working with a lot of experts in that industry.
That’s how it started at the DOE — with some of that research, as well as internships. We wanted to help get some workers out into that field. Then the workforce development side of it took over around 2020, when ACE was first stood up. And then, of course, like I said, that led to METAL in 2023.
RB: And you’re at Oak Ridge, as I recall, where a lot of research has been done in composites as well as various metal alloys and forming technologies over the years, on a developmental scale. So is there a practical connection between composites and the metal activities, or is it more of the professional development that you’re aiming to coordinate here?
MK: That question comes up quite a bit, right? How does the Composites Institute get involved in metal? And you’re right — there is some connection. But generally, when we talk about the METAL program, we’re speaking about workforce development initiatives.
It’s not so much a competition. I think there are a lot of composites experts out there who would say it’s better than metal in many ways — it’s lighter, it’s stronger — right, with all these different alloys we can compete with. And while some of that’s true, casting and forging are still responsible for 90 to 92% of durable goods manufacturing. You know, you need the equipment, you need the die — there are a lot of things made of metal even to make composites. So it’s not about competition between metal and composites. From my perspective, it’s more about collaboration — how do we keep bringing manufacturing forward in the United States and continue advancing manufacturing?
RB: Yeah, and for those listening who are dedicated to casting or forging or composites in their own right, it’s important to point out that a lot of what’s happening today is really application-focused. It’s not simply about finding the most practical and sustainable economic model for producing these things — it’s about how to adapt available production technologies to the design’s destination. So, the METAL program was operating at two universities when I wrote about it last year, so there’s a real academic focus here. How is the program administered?
MK: We’re actually at more than two at this point now. We have seven different sites. IACME kind of stands as that middle ground between government, industry, and academia. So we offer free training — we have an online portion that anyone can sign up for, and then we have the in-person component. So when you say we were at two universities — yes, at the time it was Penn State and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville — but now we’re at seven total.
Since then, we've expanded to Ohio State, Michigan Tech, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Cal Poly, and Tennessee Tech. So now we’re at seven sites total across six states. That in-person training is kind of the downline — it’s the prerequisite — and then you can go and apply what you learn hands-on.
That METAL Level 1 training, which we offer at all these sites, is really broad. It just covers the basics of metallurgy. We talk about hardness testing and surface quality, and they do tensile strength testing, they look at yield curves — basics of metallurgy. And they also get the opportunity to pour their own metal.
RB: What is the scope of the curriculum here? Are these institutions establishing the initiatives, or is the METAL program assigning projects to these institutions?
MK: Yeah, so the scope, as you just worded it, is — we did contract with Penn State first. They were our pilot hub. They created the curriculum for what we’re calling METAL Level 1 — again, that broad, not-too-deep overview. Then we took that curriculum and laid it all out on an online Canvas site. We have a “train-the-trainer” setup, so as we partner with new sites, they have access to all the lab books, requirements — all the materials. They have an hour-by-hour boot camp schedule and videos of each activity, so they can easily take the six main core activities — which include a fluidity spiral, lost-foam casting, bronze pouring, and a 3D sand-printed mold — and replicate that across the country at any site.
While it was developed by Penn State, IACME helps push it across a national network. We’ve also rolled out additional curriculum. One is called Sand Science — it’s a deeper dive into sand systems where you’re talking about resin-bonded sand, green sand systems, and particle size. It’s really dedicated toward the industry — to help upskill current employees or maybe take someone who’s a good operator or terminal quality technician and give them additional training. Those are what we call Level 2 courses. Right now, we have Sand Science and Forging. The forging curriculum was just released as well — it’s online only at this time, but we do plan to expand it to in-person boot camps.
RB: Is there an angle for industrial input in this curriculum?
MK: METAL is considered an industry-led initiative — that’s how we word it — because we started by reaching out to many industries. We visited, we talked, we had roundtables, and we got their input.
On top of that, now we have a METAL Advisory Network. The advisory network consists of individual industry members — for example, Scott Forge can have representation there. We have large, medium, and small companies, and we also have all the associations you mentioned — FEF in this industry, and you also mentioned FIERF. Those are two big ones.
But we also have AFS representation and NFFS — that’s the Non-Ferrous Founders Society — as well as SFSA, the Steel Founders Society of America. Between all of these associations, we actually have over 2,000 manufacturers represented on that METAL Advisory Network. They have the opportunity to review the curriculum, give us feedback — where do we need to go, what do we need to create next — and it also gives our hubs and spokes an opportunity to share best practices and maintain a continuous-improvement mindset.
RB: Is there an opportunity here for talent appropriation? Are these participants pulling future employees out of the program?
MK: For sure, there’s a big opportunity for that. Right now, we don’t have them under contract yet, but we’re working with a job board called Labor Up. What they’re proposing is to help set up boot camp participants with mock interviews, get them prepared for resumes, maybe even help with resume support, and then actually get them real interviews.
We want at least 50% of our boot camp participants to have an interview — an opportunity to reach out into the industry and get a job, a career, whatever they’re looking for at that time. We also have some apprenticeship opportunities through our partner Jobs for the Future, where we can help share and connect participants with those programs.
RB: Very good. Everyone should recall, this is just two years into the development of this, but what results have been documented since the launch of the METAL program?
MK: Well, we've had just over 350 boot camp participants, and we have some specific stories. We have a great communications team that helps us reach out for some of these individual success stories.
We had someone take a boot camp at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and then they got a job at Helmut Aerospace as an engineer. They were very excited about the hands-on experience and the opportunity to learn. We have some of these engineering students who have never run a drill. They get to a boot camp and have an opportunity to do something with their hands — and they get really excited about that. They get to learn through hands-on experiences.
We’ve also had over 1,100 online participants, and just over 65% of them were new to casting and forging with no prior experience. So even just introducing people to the concept of one of the oldest technologies still in use today — that’s a big win for us.
RB: Yeah, I mean, one of the reasons there’s no past experience is that so much of this — these types of skills — have been diverted into vocational education and out of high school curricula, and out of practical community college curricula, and that sort of thing. So a lot of people who are attuned to it, or have a mind to pursue this sort of thing, are not in the educational track that would take them there. But by getting into the universities, you’ve created a bypass, if you will. So well done on that.
MK: A little bit more on that too — we really try to build that pipeline by reaching the younger audience. So there’s a little bit more to METAL than just the universities and that adult curriculum.
I mean, we’ve had some minors take a boot camp, accompanied by an adult — and different universities have different policies they have to follow. But we do have a big K–12 outreach. So not only are we trying to get skilled workers who are of working age, but we work at the K–12 level to reach out and let them know this exists. We talk about a couple of career opportunities — space and defense, for example. You know, we’ll pour tin or even chocolate for younger kids. So yeah, we really reach out to that younger audience to try to let them know it exists, because if you don’t know it exists, you definitely can’t choose it as a career path.
RB: Well, on the engagement — I mean, I’ve seen this. You know, for practical explanation here, I’ve seen the kind of engagement they’re able to achieve with this through the FEF when they take their programs out to K–12. And just the enthusiasm you can initiate with young students on this is really remarkable to see. It’s kind of impressive when you consider how many distractions — other distractions — they have, and how many other economic incentives they have to do something other than “dirty work,” if you will.
MK: They’re a great partner of ours. FEF actually has a two-week high school curriculum that they just piloted at 13 schools, and they already have 50 signed up for the fall semester. We’re working toward 75 by spring. It’s mostly in the Rust Belt region, but they have them all over the place — even in Southern California they have a school. So it’s really exciting. And that’s a really in-depth curriculum for METAL. Hopefully, you find some interested kids and teach them a little bit more — get industry volunteers involved even.
RB: Yeah, my metal casting audience needs no introduction there, but for others — if you have a youngster you’d like to get intrigued in some of this — pay attention to this, because there are real possibilities for growth and development. And it’s very heady work. It’s not dirty work, it’s important to emphasize. So, let me go on here — is there a curriculum expansion in consideration for the METAL program?
MK: Yeah, being a relatively young program, we’re still building curriculum as we get input from industry. We had someone request a magnesium casting module — which I know is a smaller market — but we’re coming out with an online module for that. It’ll be about two to two-and-a-half hours and should be released around Q1 2026.
We also have a Digital Technologies in Casting module. We’re really focused on that advanced manufacturing aspect, and we’re looking at AR, VR, robotics, and Arduino sensors. There’s a pilot program at Penn State — an in-person component happening next week — which I’m happy to attend myself and get to see what that looks like.
The online version of Digital Technologies in Casting is already available. We also have some other modules not yet under contract, but agreements are pending. Purdue will have a Smart Foundry Boot Camp as well as an Investment Casting module. They have a unique piece of equipment — the Bridgman single-crystal casting system for nickel superalloys — so they’re going to create an in-person investment casting module that uses that equipment. And we also have a dedicated Forging Boot Camp planned for Q2 of 2026.
RB: This is really important for people who are in the big tech world — in the development world. I imagine there are a lot of technology developers innovators out there who would like to get their ideas into some sort of a pipeline. They should pay attention to what's going on at Metal and IACME for this because there's a way to graduate your technology to an industrial level if you have the right sort of research. So they should be in contact with you. So what is the process? How does somebody, if they have an idea they want to get into your curriculum, how would they do that?
MK: You can go to our website, www.metalforamerica.org. There's an opportunity there to contact us — you fill it out. Definitely, we're open to hearing all ideas and opportunities. We don't want to shy away from any opportunity.
RB: Let's talk about the enrollees. Do you have a number on how many have been processed? Maybe you dropped it on me here and I overlooked it, but how many people have you had in your program so far?
MK: For the online component, we have just over 1,100, and for in-person, we've finished training just over 350. It's relatively small numbers compared to our sister program, ACE, but they do have a three-year head start on us. We look to expand rapidly over the next year and get some bigger numbers. I'd like to be over 2,000 by the end of 2026.
RB: Are they granted any accreditation or certification as a consequence of their enrollment there?
MK: Yeah, we offer a Credly badge — there's one for online, one for in-person; they’re separate badges. You also get a certificate of completion with the logo of the university you took it through, plus IACME’s logo and IBAS, our sponsor from the DOD.
We are pursuing further accreditation. UTK right now is investigating a nine-hour certificate program. We’re looking at minors and certificates. And Penn State Behrend — not officially up yet — but they're offering one credit hour for the completion of about a level-one boot camp once they open the facility in Erie. Still needs some approval process for the further accreditation, but the Credly badge and the certificates are offered.
RB: What about employment opportunities? Are you hiring? Are you looking for people to extend your efforts anywhere?
MK: Yeah, for sure. While IACME itself doesn’t hire too many people — we’re a relatively small team — we are growing, so there’s opportunity to work at IACME. But on top of that, to get into the metals industry, we have our partner Jobs for the Future. I mentioned earlier they’re working with 27 different manufacturers right now in the casting, forging, and plate rolling industries. They offer apprenticeship programs and help the industry set up their apprenticeship frameworks — kind of take off all the paperwork and make it as easy as possible on the industry, because sometimes apprenticeships can be difficult. We help set up the framework, offer curriculum, and also offer internships through our partner FEF that are done in industry. They, again, kind of piloted that program as well.
With this being a young program, a lot of things are in the pilot phase or just wrapping up pilot phase. I think they had 13 interns placed in industry, and now we're looking to expand that next phase in 2026. And of course, industry is taking advantage of the program too. We’ve had a company near Ohio State, TOSO — they sent five employees to the boot camp to get the experience. We’re working on a story on that now. But anytime industry wants to upskill employees or use it for onboarding — or procurement officers, we had someone in the Air Force from a procurement side take the online curriculum, go to the boot camp — it just helped them understand what they're ordering, the process behind it. So there’s a lot of opportunity for industry to get involved.
RB: So is there an approach they should take? Is there some place — how can manufacturers get themselves involved in that?
MK: Really the same process: go to the website, fill out the form to contact us, and then we respond quickly. We’ll reach out, and there’s an opportunity to join the Metal Advisory Network if they really want a heavy role — or at least they can check out the events page on our website and look at upcoming boot camps where they might want to send some people. And of course, utilize the free online curriculum — it’s out there right now. It could be part of the onboarding process. It’s about eight and a half hours, and it can be done at your own pace. You don’t have to do it all in a week, but you can easily.
About the Podcast
Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast offers news and information for the people who make, store and move things and those who manage and maintain the facilities where that work gets done. Manufacturers from chemical producers to automakers to machine shops can listen for critical insights into the technologies, economic conditions and best practices that can influence how to best run facilities to reach operational excellence.
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About the Author
Robert Brooks
Robert Brooks has been a business-to-business reporter, writer, editor, and columnist for more than 20 years, specializing in the primary metal and basic manufacturing industries. His work has covered a wide range of topics, including process technology, resource development, material selection, product design, workforce development, and industrial market strategies, among others. Currently, he specializes in subjects related to metal component and product design, development, and manufacturing — including castings, forgings, machined parts, and fabrications.
Brooks is a graduate of Kenyon College (B.A. English, Political Science) and Emory University (M.A. English.)