Success Story - Realityworks

Success Story
Building a Sustainable Student-Run Business:
Cardinal Manufacturing, Eleva-Strum Central High School
By Emily Kuhn
Craig Cegielski
Technical Education
Teacher
“We try and do it exactly like
a business in every way. The
kids go out and market the
company themselves, just like
a real business.”
Craig Cegielski
Technical Education Teacher
Eleva-Strum High School
When Craig Cegielski began teaching
technical educa on at Eleva-Strum
Central High School in 2005, he had big
plans in mind. Having already created
a successful, student-run machining
business at An go High School (where
he taught from 1998 to 2004), Cegielski
was familiar with the process of star ng a
business from scratch, and the challenges
that go with it.
He approached the Eleva-Strum
administra on with a clear business
plan and stated his request: to provide
technical educa on students with
be er equipment and be er learning
opportuni es by transforming the high
school’s top-level welding and machining
classes into a real, sustainable business
operated en rely by students.
shop that produces parts for local
and regional customers. Profits are
re-invested in the business with a
percentage paid to student workers,
who graduate with a unique set of
knowledge, skills and experiences that
they use to enroll in higher educa on and
secure employment in the welding and
machining industry.
“It’s a win for the school and a win for the
students,” said Cegielski. “It’s also a win
for the local tech colleges because they’re
ge ng more trained students, and it’s
a win for the local companies because
they’re ge ng more skilled workers.”
It was the shortage of skilled workers in
the welding and machining industry that
mo vated Cegielski to start the business
in the first place.
Seven years later, Cardinal Manufacturing
is a self-sufficient, student-run machine
Program Highlights
Goal:
• Run the high school’s
top-level welding and
machining classes as a
real, sustainable business
operated en rely by
students.
Benefits of using teachWELD:
• Compact design saves on
space
• Students get practice
time before using actual
welders
• Cost-savings compared to
actual welders
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(continued)
“Once businesses found out
what we were doing, they
wanted to help us and we
wanted to help them. You
keep building relationships
with companies and they
eventually give you more work
to do. Then eventually, you
may get an old machine from
companies you’ve developed
relationships with.”
Craig Cegielski
Technical Education Teacher
Eleva-Strum High School
“There’s a huge shortage of manufacturing
and welding workers, and if you don’t
introduce them in high school, then
students are less likely to go on to technical
college and join the workforce – and the
workforce needs people,” said Cegielski.
“The best idea is to get them going in high
school, and if they see it and like it, they’ll
go on and join the workforce.”
Cegielski knew that to a ract high school
students to the field of machining and
welding, they needed to experience
technical educa on classes that were
as realis c as possible. Like most high
schools, however, Eleva-Strum’s collec on
of machining and welding equipment was
only average. Cegielski saw an opportunity
to secure be er equipment – and in doing
so, provide be er learning opportuni es
for the students – by selling the very
products that students were learning to
create. But first, the business needed to
improve its base of opera on.
“When I got here, the shop was low
on quality and low on equipment. You
couldn’t make anything to sell because the
equipment was in such poor shape,” he
explained. “We spent the first whole year
just laying block walls, making racks and
building the business, piece by piece.”
A er spending three years cleaning and
organizing the school’s original machine
shop, training students in the necessary
standards of opera on and networking
with local businesses to donate used
machines and old equipment, Cegielski
was able to begin producing products
worth selling – and the more jobs they
secured, the more opportuni es they had
to grow.
“A er three years of prepping, we had just
minimal equipment, but you start out with
what you have,” said Cegielski. “We could
only do limited work, but we stayed in
contact with companies and networked.”
Networking was vital to the growth of the
business during those first few years, and
according to Cegielski, they mimicked real
businesses in this way as much as possible.
To spread the word about their new
endeavor, they went door to door with
brochures, business cards, pens, hats and
t-shirts. Although Cegielski made most of
the ini al contacts with customers himself,
students par cipated ac vely in this step
of the process as well. In doing so, they
began learning how to network and how to
present themselves professionally.
“We try and do it exactly like a business
in every way,” he said, explaining that
students s ll do much of the follow-up
with customers a er completed projects
have been delivered. “The kids go out and
market the company themselves, just like a
real business.”
Also like a real business, Cegielski’s biggest
challenge in the beginning was finances.
A er all, the machines necessary to run
a successful machine shop are expensive,
and the district wasn’t able to simply
give them the funds to purchase new
equipment. In addi on to networking with
local manufacturing businesses to secure
dona ons, Cegielski and the administra on
partnered with Western Dairyland, a
community ac on agency that provides
West Central Wisconsin communi es
with workforce development programs.
Through the agency, Cegielski and the
administra on arranged to rent out the
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machine shop at night to teach adult
welding classes. The profits that came
from using the classroom when it wasn’t
otherwise in service were reinvested right
back into the business. Cegielski also
applied for and received various grants,
which were reinvested as well.
“Once businesses found out what we
were doing, they wanted to help us and
we wanted to help them,” said Cegielski.
“You keep building rela onships with
companies and they eventually give you
more work to do. Then eventually, you may
get an old machine from companies you’ve
developed rela onships with.”
“If you’re a high school
teacher and only have 3
welders but 10 kids in front of
you, you can use this machine
to help another kid pracƟce.
It’s nice for people who don’t
have the actual welders
or the space or all of the
investment.”
Craig Cegielski
Technical Education Teacher
Eleva-Strum High School
Using the school’s machine shop also
saves the business money, since overhead
costs like electricity, hea ng and basic
maintenance are already paid for. Labor
is free as well, since students – who are
already there for class – do the work.
Cardinal Manufacturing does pay for all of
its own material and tools, with nearly all
of the profits reinvested for more materials
and improved tools. In the four years since
Cardinal Manufacturing began opera ng,
Cegielski es mates that they’ve received
around $300,000 worth of equipment
through dona ons, with about $75,000
donated in the past year alone.
“It’s one dona on a er another,” said
Cegielski, who also drums up business
through his membership on various
industry boards, and by a ending
conferences. He says about 35 percent of
their business is within a few miles of the
school district. “Local businesses are trying
to promote manufacturing, because they
know it’s in their best interest to see these
students learn.”
Learning remains the number-one goal for
Cardinal Manufacturing students, and the
skills they graduate with are impressive.
Besides learning how to machine and
weld, students are responsible for
quo ng jobs, ordering materials and
tools, manufacturing parts, ensuring
quality control, handling accoun ng,
invoicing and providing customer service.
Specific prerequisites must be met before
juniors and seniors can join the Cardinal
Manufacturing team, and a resume and
cover le er are required as part of the
applica on process.
To accomplish all of this, Cegielski’s class
is specially blocked into two back-toback, 45-minute periods, and par cularly
dedicated students also work during
study hall and other free periods. In
addi on, the machine shop remains open
on Wednesday evenings and a few days
each week during the summer months.
Balancing the needs of the students with
the commitments of the business can be
a challenge, but one Cegielski an cipated
from the beginning.
“We struggle, because we always get more
work than we can get done,” he said. “But
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“I was able to start early,
and get a good idea of what
machining was all about.
It prepared me for college.
The first semester was all
manual machines, and that’s
all we had in high school,
so I was able to really excel.
You’re way ahead of everyone
else because you have that
experience already.”
Brady Schuch
Vincent Tool employee;
CVTC and Eleva Strum
graduate; former Cardinal
Manufacturing student
employee
we tell our customers and they understand
– they know we’re not going to have 1-day
turnaround mes… it’s just a ma er of
working with the customer and le ng
them know up front how long the project
will take.”
2011, and now works at Vincent Tool in
Chippewa Falls. He credits his experience
with Cardinal Manufacturing in giving
him an extra edge over his fellow college
students while in school, and accelera ng
his learning experience.
Realityworks’ teachWELD simulator is
one tool that Cegielski an cipates using
as they maintain the balance between
learning and doing. This hands-on
welding simulator allows students to
enhance their welding skills on a video
game-like machine that provides real
me feedback without using costly
materials or equipment. Although Cardinal
Manufacturing currently has enough real
welding machines for each student – a
unique situa on, he admits – Cegielski
knows how useful teachWELD will be when
they need another machine but aren’t able
to purchase one immediately.
“I was able to start early, and get a good
idea of what machining was all about,” said
Schuch. “It prepared me for college. The
first semester was all manual machines,
and that’s all we had in high school, so I
was able to really excel. You’re way ahead
of everyone else because you have that
experience already.”
“If you’re a high school teacher and only
have 3 welders but 10 kids in front of you,
you can use this machine to help another
kid prac ce,” said Cegielski. “It’s nice for
people who don’t have the actual welders
or the space or all of the investment.”
Learning remains a top priority for
Cegielski, who relishes watching his
students graduate and go on to further
their careers in machining and welding.
This past year saw almost all of the
par cipa ng seniors join industry-related
fields, with four students entering
Chippewa Valley Technical College’s
machining program, two entering the
college’s welding program, and one
entering the field of heavy equipment
opera on. The remaining students will join
the business again as seniors.
The success of Cardinal Manufacturing,
and An go High School’s Red Robin
Machining, has shown Cegielski how
beneficial projects like these are to an
en re community – to the students, to the
school and to the en re industry. In the
next year, Cardinal Manufacturing plans to
hire a full- me office manager and begin
shipping products across state lines. These
steps will allow the business to grow even
more – and show Cegielski the possibili es
of similar business in other loca ons,
whether or not those loca ons are
manufacturing hubs. His advice to other
communi es that are considering similar
projects: Be pa ent and work hard.
“This is not a unique situa on here.
We’re a very small school and a very small
town, and if it can work here, it can work
anywhere,” said Cegielski. “It’s like star ng
a real business – if you want to keep your
customers happy, you have to be willing to
go the extra mile. But it’s worth it.”
“These students are not only learning how
to weld or machine, but they’re learning
real-life business skills: How to prepare a
resume, how to dress, how to act,” he said.
“When they leave here, kids have thick
por olios – 3-ring binders – full of at least
a cover le er, references, a resume and
pictures of their work.”
Eleva-Strum Central High School graduate
Brady Schuch can a est to that. Schuch
graduated from Chippewa Valley Technical
College with a degree in Machine Tool in
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