Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - Only 25 universities nationwide have metal casting programs that are accredited by the Foundry Educational Foundation. After the news of re-accreditation last month, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville can proudly say they are one of those few.

"The program is growing. UW-Platteville is ranked very high in the metal industry," industrial studies professor Kyle Metzloff said.

The FEF is an organization within the cast metals industry that provides financial support to educational foundry programs nationwide, and assists students in finding work placement. A team from the FEF visited the university in March to complete a scheduled program review.

At a time when such schools as UW-Madison and MIT have lost accreditation, FEF

members were impressed with UWP's acquisition of new equipment in the metal casting labs.

"They were impressed with the build up of equipment. Most of it was donated," Metzloff said.

Resources for such equipment as computer-aided manufacturing machines to high-tech furnaces have been donated by companies like Simpson Technologies, Pillar Industries and Neenah Foundry. Metzloff estimates 50-60 percent of these resources have been donated.

"The only reason we can run this is because of the generosity of all of these companies," Metzloff said.

Metzloff said one of the best things about the metals processing program, a minor within the industrial technology management major at UWP, is the emphasis on hands-on learning. UWP students learn "not just in the books," but also "by actually doing it," he said.

"I try to give students a lot of lab time," Metzloff said. "We're teaching the basic manufacturing-the get your hands in there and do it."

That's the reason other schools have lost accreditation, Metzloff said, by emphasizing theoretical learning at the expense of hands-on experience. UWP students, through class or through the affiliated UWP chapter of the American Foundry Society, have made a variety of metal objects-from manhole covers to a bell that decorated a schooner built in honor of the state of Wisconsin's sesquicentennial celebration. Metzloff is quick to point out a vice grip in the metals laboratory that was built from start to finish, every part manufactured in their labs "except the screws."

Metzloff encourages students to visualize the metals manufacturing process from start to finish.

"I'll bring in a part and say, 'How is this made?'" he said. "I force them to think, 'How is this formed? How did they machine that?'-the things people take for granted."

Many people may not realize how common parts manufactured by metal casting really are. A typical automobile will have literally hundreds of parts created through metal casting techniques, Metzloff said.

Accreditation from the FEF is vital for the UWP metals program in several ways. The organization gives funds to accredited programs every year, funds that help pay for improvements to the metals labs, and directly to students through scholarships.

The organization also hosts a conference where the top students from accredited programs can meet with top executives from businesses looking to hire metallurgists and metals manufacturers, corporations like Caterpillar and Ford Motor Company.

"These companies are looking for the best and the brightest," Metzloff said.

"Almost every year at least half [of the UWP students who attend] picks up contacts that will give them jobs."

In another five years, UWP will be up again for re-accreditation from the FEF. The organization's mission statement is to "strengthen the metal casting industry by supporting unique partnerships among students, educators and industry, helping today's students become tomorrow's leaders."

"The whole goal is to get intelligent people to go into the industry," Metzloff said.