One solution to the lack of tool and die makers
Posted by [email protected] on Aug. 25, 2025 / Subscribe 0
By Wayne Mausbach, President of the GHMA. Contact him at [email protected].
In my previous post, I talked about the critical need for tool and die professionals. Here’s a possible path forward.
The most expedient solution is what most companies are doing: going offshore to places like China – a plan that merely “kicks the can down the road.” This also does not solve the employment issue here or add to GDP of the economy.
Rather, as manufacturers, we must help our youth and young adults get involved in the profession. For those that might not be aware, being a tool and die maker is the highest skill level for a machinist. It takes more than just a couple of classes at the local college. That’s just the start; a two year degree only teaches the basics of a mill and lathe.
Five-axis machining, EDM Machining, and the increasing 3D printing options (additive manufacturing) is a much higher level of expertise, to say nothing of the knowledge of metallurgy (tool steels), heat treatment, welding and the use precision measuring equipment (e.g. CMM). Additionally, the software side such as CAD and CAM must also learned, as most modern designs are done electronically and put in PDM systems with revision control. A tool and die maker must extract the model and program-it through the various devices mentioned above.
Some of these skills are touched on in various engineering and mechanical design programs, but the concentration is on DESIGN not how to MANUFACTURE.
I propose a new direction: a 4 year minimum program with several years of internship, residing in a community college system. Why? Because this program must be treated as a skilled-trade profession and treated as other trade professionals such as a plumber or electrician, taught by "Professors of Practice" and not by PhD's who never have actually worked as a tool and die professional.
I discussed this with a high ranking college professor from a local college, who said "We (education) base our programs on the number of jobs from labor statistics; there aren't that many tool and die jobs in the workforce."
Yes that is true as most tool and die jobs are in China.
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