Future Technologists Are Woodworking Industry Prospects

The 2012 winners of the annual SkillsUSA Championships in Automated Manufacturing Technologies have been announced. The contest evaluated teams for employment in integrated manufacturing technology fields of computer aided drafting/design (CAD), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), and computer numerical controlled machining (CNC). CAD operators construct the part geometry; the CAM operator generates the tool paths; and the CNC operator sets up and machines the part. Plotting is not a scored event, but the contestants must be able to generate a plot file that will be used to send their data to the plotter.