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16 ELECTRONIC EDITION: WWW.MANUFACTURINGTODAYWI.COM

Tiger Tech — A Win for the Students, School, and Community

In 2018 we took our first SkillsUSA
students to the State Leadership and Skills
Convention in Madison, WI. Thanks to
Tiger MFG, students don’t have to fun-
draise dollars to participate and have the
skills to do very well in the Computer
Aided Manufacturing competitions. We
have 12 gold medals at State and we were
fortunate to have a team of 3 win Nation-
als in the 2025 Automated Manufacturing
Technology competition.
In 2020 we worked with Dan Carney,
GM of a collaborative robot (cobot) based
systems company, and wrote another grant
to add automation to one of our older
donated lathes. We purchased a Univer-
sal Robot (cobot) and students are able to
figure out how to stage, pick, place, and
program parts to be made with automation.
In 2022 we purchased a 5 Axis Haas
UMC-500 with the help of NG. The
company donated the $40,000 we were
Roy Ward, Technology Education Teacher, ing houses. We typically build them on a There is never a dull moment here at
Webster High School foundation just outside of our shop. They short of to make the purchase a reality. We Tiger Tech. Our new principal talks about
Webster School District are then sold and moved off-site. The first needed a machine that wasn’t tied up all the moving the needle forward and we cer-
time for production and to provide the next
Under the umbrella of Tiger Tech are houses were engineered to be moved and level of learning for students who are ready. tainly have been doing that for the last 20
two unique hands-on learning opportuni- intended to go on a full basement. The It also got us involved with competing at a years. Our advice to schools is just get a
ties for students at Webster High School, houses are 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, open college level in the Project MFG Advanced little bit better every year. You’ll be amazed
Tiger Manufacturing and Tiger Construc- concept, with a vaulted ceiling in the dining Machining League. We made Regionals with what you can do if you surround your
tion. In 2006, I started Tiger Manufacturing and living rooms, and come with custom- (top 16) the last two years and are featured program with local business support and
(MFG), a student-run business. At that made kitchen cabinets. We have built four on two episodes of their Clash of Trades volunteers who are willing to share their
time, we partnered with Dave Wegner, the of these houses which has paved the way YouTube show. time and expertise with students. It’s a lot
owner of a local cabinet business, with the to our latest project, a duplex. This will Currently, we are looking into replac- of work, but it is rewarding work.
intention of giving students real life work provide student teachers a place to live ing one of our older lathes with a Haas
experience using advanced manufacturing for free while finishing up their teaching DS-20Y which is a dual spindle with live
software and equipment, being self-suffi- degree. tooling on the Y axis to do drilling, tapping
cient, and providing funds and projects for In 2017 using Tiger MFG funds, we and milling. www.webster.k12.wi.us
students who could not afford them. We purchased a Haas Mini Mill and started
accomplished all the goals, fostered new producing metal parts for a local manu-
partnerships, and have continued to grow. facturing company (NG) who supported us
Our yearly goal is to get one year better with the start-up of Tiger MFG. In 2018 we
than the year before. It has been continual expanded again when we received a Fast
improvement and win/win/win for the stu- Forward Grant to purchase Haas TL-1 lathe Eagle Manufacturing Continued from Page 15
dents, school, and community. which started our partnership with a major
In 2015 we started manufactur- manufacturing and engineering company. the school year.
Although each student has a specific role
within the company, the class is about much
more than simply completing a daily task. The
overall goal is to teach students how a business
operates and what it takes to become an entre-
preneur. Every role provides a different learning
opportunity, but all students share responsibility
for researching, prototyping, marketing, pricing
products, and tracking profit margins.
At the end of every class, we reflect on two
important questions: How did I contribute today,
and what did I learn?
In a world that never stops moving, manu-
facturing continues to quietly build the future
around us. Programs like Eagle Manufacturing
prove that the future is not something already
decided — it is something we create ourselves.

www.npsd.k12.wi.us