Global Fastener News

FEATURE
Cold Forging Academy To Train Next-Gen Fastener Workforce

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Courtesy Rockford Register Star

“Rockford may no longer be the screw capital of the world, but it still ranks as the 10th largest U.S. metropolitan area for fastener production,” writes Isaac Guerrero of the Rockford Register Star.

To maintain its standing, Rock Valley College wants to establish a cold forging manufacturing training center by year’s end.

Recently the college was donated a Nakashimada cold header, prompting college trustees to consider leasing an empty factory that would house the 10-ton machine, according to the Star.

If the lease is approved, the facility could also “quickly be repurposed as a manufacturing training center,” which factory owners have been pressing the college to establish in order to train replacements for their aging workforce.

“Rock Valley’s array of manufacturing training programs are critical to local companies like Specialty Screw, which makes fasteners for the automotive industry,” writes Guerrero of the Star.

Specialty Screw employs about 100 full-time workers over two shifts and nearly a dozen temporary employees to cover six-day workweeks.

“We get into an enormous amount of overtime because you can’t find the workers,” Specialty Screw corporate relations manager Patti Bigger told the Star.

Replacement workers reportedly account for 75% of projected job growth in the region, which pays “good money” for manufacturing workers. Entry-level forging machine setters and operators earn $17.80 an hour, or $37,089 a year, while an experienced worker earns $26.44 an hour, or $54,986 a year, according to the Star.

For more stories on the story of fasteners in Rockford, click on the Fastener History section of GlobalFastenerNews.com:

1988 & 2008 FIN: Rockford’s Role in the Fastener Industry
The U.S. is quickly becoming a service-oriented nation and little can be done to slow the decline in manufacturing as it moves offshore.