Music has always been a uniting force, but who would have ever thought the workforce development ecosystem would connect Metallica, community colleges, educational institutions, and a budding automation technician in Illinois?
Metallica, the world’s most popular heavy metal band with more than 125 million albums sold, has been rocking the manufacturing community through its Metallica Scholars Initiative scholarship program. Founded in 2019, Metallica Scholars has already provided $11.4 million in grants to community colleges as of January 2025.
“We developed a partnership with the American Association of Community Colleges to disburse funds. They have the direct line to the colleges, so we could focus on the programs,” says Renee Richardson, director of philanthropy at the All Within My Hands Foundation, Metallica’s nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting hunger, providing critical local services, and workforce education. “Every school uses funds in different ways, but to this point, we have supported 9,000 individuals at 60 community colleges in 50 states and Guam.”
The Music of Manufacturing
To highlight the role of partnerships and collaborations within the workforce development community, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology organized “The Music of Manufacturing” panel discussion at IMTS 2024 on the IMTS+ Main Stage. Joining Richardson were:
Jennifer Worth, senior vice president, academic and workforce development for the American Association of Community Colleges.
Metallica Scholars scholarship recipient Andrew Carrasco, a recent graduate of the College of Lake County and its Advanced Technology Center.
Craig McAtee, executive director and CEO of the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers.
Just like a band requires members with different skills to make music, the music of manufacturing requires a combination of organizations working in harmony. AMT caught up with Richardson, Carrasco, McAtee, and Dr. Lori Suddick, Ed.D., president of the College of Lake County, to learn more about the interconnections within the workforce development ecosystem.
Metallica’s Motivation
Vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield of Metallica believes in the organization’s work.
“When we launched the Metallica Scholars Initiative, it really spoke to me,” says Hetfield. “Trade skills are vital to society, and what’s even more important is to support the many folks who are trying to create a career by learning and using these skills.”
When Metallica goes on tour, the band depends on the skilled trades for sound, video, lighting, rigging, set design and construction, catering, electrical, commercial truck driving, and much more.
“There are companies that provide these trained, skilled professionals, and the band wanted to do something for education,” says Richardson. “James stood up and said, ‘Let’s make it about trade education.’ It was a time in his life where his kids were going through school, and he noticed students weren’t being told they can go to a trade school and have a wonderful career. With the Metallica scholarships, the band helps those students get their careers underway. Ironically, that conversation was in 2019, and we as a nation hadn’t been talking about the worker shortage at that point. Metallica was very much ahead of the curve with the idea of supporting trades people.”
Student Impact
One of those tradespeople is Andrew Carrasco. Carrasco began his hands-on learning path as an auto mechanic in high school. While he continued after graduation, he “still felt a little lost. Something was missing.”
Eventually, Carrasco became the general manager of a retail store before landing a job as a production operator for Abbott Laboratories, one of the largest employers in Lake County (which runs from the northern Chicago suburbs to the Wisconsin border). This changed everything.
“Working in production started me on an engineering and automation journey,” he says. “I saw the online reviews where employers recognized the College of Lake County’s automation program, so I decided to give it a shot. It’s not your typical learning. The program is hands-on. We trained on the actual equipment that we’d see in industry, so it was really cool. Instead of coming out of school scared and confused, I knew how to use equipment from Siemens, Allen-Bradley, FANUC, Festo, and Amatrol.”
While applying for school, Carrasco explored the Paying for College section of the school’s website. “I was browsing through scholarships because nothing good is really cheap, so any financial help would be appreciated,” he recalls. “I saw the Metallica Scholarships and applied, and I was overjoyed when I won because it was a good amount. I tell people, ‘Hey, I got a scholarship from Metallica,’ and they’re like, ‘No way!’”
Now 26, Carrasco earned his associate degree in automation, robotics, and mechatronics in December 2024. He currently works for a company maintaining automation equipment, and he plans to keep pursuing a career as a roboticist and possibly earn a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. As a next step, he says, “I may also go back to the College of Lake County because they offer certifications in C++ and Autodesk and SolidWorks CAD programming that would build my skillset until I figure out what career works best for me.”
Community College Connections
The United States needs millions more students like Carrasco, and the need in Lake County alone would surprise many. Lake County is the second-largest manufacturing county in Illinois. Nearly 51,000 workers – one in seven residents – are employed in the manufacturing sector, and manufacturing supports 31% of the county’s economy. Manufacturers generate $12.2 billion in salaries and benefits, and Lake County manufacturers have an economic output of $35.7 billion a year.
“To be successful as a county, as a state, and as a country, we must focus on manufacturing,” says Dr. Lori Suddick, president of the College of Lake County (CLC). “Community colleges ensure that there’s a skilled talent pipeline available for our local industries. Our students promote economic growth and community vibrancy through their educational achievements. More broadly, community colleges serve as conveners to bring an ecosystem together.”
Currently, CLC enrolls nearly 20,000 students at its three campuses and graduates approximately 3,000 credentialed and degreed students each year. Certification through the Advanced Technology Center (ATC), which opened in the fall of 2022, provides students hands-on classes with engaging, detailed, and guided instruction and experiential learning opportunities through internships and apprenticeships with local companies. The ATC provides a venue to launch projects such CLC’s Manufacturing Alliance, a catalyst for transformative change to create thriving businesses, a high-performing workforce, and a regional hub of manufacturing excellence.
“Manufacturers get so busy running their operations that they can become insular,” says Suddick. “As a result, they miss the opportunity to build a coalition of unified people who can do root cause analysis and develop solutions that help everybody. If all businesses do is steal the talent from across town for 50 cents more per hour, we have not increased the talent supply, and we are all going to fail. To be successful, we must unite our efforts to grow the talent base. Last year, we brought more than 800 people into the Advanced Technology Center.”
Growing Alliance
One of the Manufacturing Alliance’s new members is AMT member company Knuth Machine Tools in Lincolnshire, Illinois. This fourth-generation family-owned company is a leading supplier of machine tools, including CNC and conventional milling machines, lathes and grinding machines, plasma and laser cutting machines, as well as machines for sheet metal and tube.
Knuth donated eight of its TSB 35 drill presses (a retail value of about $100,000) to CLC. The machines can drill holes with up to a 1-1/4-inch diameter on mild steel and tap holes up to 22 mm in diameter. The relationship further developed when CLC asked Knuth to quote on and supply additional machines, which ultimately included two band saws, four plate rollers, four manual folding machines, and two Ironworkers, which are multifunctional tools that can shear, bend, punch, and form.
“These machines are the type that students will find in the workplace, so we wanted students at the ATC to be able to learn on the equipment that they’ll use in their careers,” says Nick Ketchum, sales manager for Knuth’s North American and South America operations. “Without manufacturing, Lake County wouldn’t be what it is today. That’s why we support CLC and became part of its Manufacturing Alliance. Manufacturers need to support education and other manufacturers because we all win by creating a pipeline of skilled employees.”
Advancing Community Colleges
Just as CLC helps students and businesses thrive, the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC) helps educational institutions grow. For example, the ATC that attracted Carrasco to CLC resulted from utilizing the NCATC Membership Assistance Program (MAP). Through MAP, CLC gained a strategic business plan that enabled them to transform an old Lowe’s store into a cornerstone of Lake County’s future.
“We connect ecosystems and translate language between industry, education, and government,” says NCATC Executive Director and CEO Craig McAtee (who jokes he is a recovering engineer and who attended his first IMTS in 1988). “With MAP, we interview elected officials, staff and faculty, the industries the college serves, and chambers of commerce and economic development offices. We delivered a plan to fix short-term gaps, solve one- and two-year problems, and provided the longer-term plan that resulted in the ATC.”
NCATC has more than 180 community college members, and its strategic partners include AMT, numerous AMT members and IMTS exhibitors, Manufacturing USA Institutes, and others. Its core goals include:
Develop and facilitate the exchange of workforce development programs.
Provide a forum to discuss new and emerging technologies to keep members on the cutting edge of technology applications, especially automation, AI, and Industry 4.0.
Provide a conduit for member centers to network with one another.
Workforce and economic development in their communities.
Increase national awareness of Advanced Technology Centers and their positive impact on America’s competitiveness and economic growth.
“We have four pillars: emerging technologies, work-based learning, industry-aligned skills development, and lifelong learning environments,” says McAtee. “As an example of how these pillars translate to actions, we help community colleges work with job shops to start a dual-enrollment, paid internship, or registered apprenticeship. We help educators understand that applied learning environments require a minimum of 60% hands-on time. We show everyone how to access grants and funding, and we promote industry-recognized credentials. NCATC does all this, and membership is only $600 and a little bit of time.”
If you haven’t set foot on a community college campus in the last 10 years, an Advanced Technology Center may shock you with its possibilities. These spaces are clean and bright; they elevate and dignify technical careers; and the colleges are open and accessible to community involvement. Ask for a tour of the campus – and for a good walk-on song, try Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”
To read the rest of the Workforce Issue of MT Magazine, click here.
