Smart manufacturing is made smarter when personnel in production and design collaborate to deliver the most efficient results.

Middle-school-age girls at a Chicago-area manufacturing camp discover their maker gene by working with metal, designing on CAD, and operating machines, power tools. The GADgET Girls Camp at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill., was part of the Nuts, Bolts, & Thingamajigs summer camp series.

In the fifth episode of our Talkin' Shop series interviewing contestants from the Netflix show Metal Shop Masters, we speak with Ivan Iler, a metal sculpture and kinetic artist from St. Johns, Mich. Iler talks about how the show changed the course of his life and career.

Social media is proof that humanity still celebrates creativity among the younger generations. What better industry to put those creative efforts to work than in metal fabricating and forming?

In episode No. 4 of Talkin' Shop with Metal Shop Masters, we speak with Minneapolis-based Seven Bailey about their 20-plus-year career as a metal fabricator, AWS certified welder, welding inspector, educator, and artist.

In episode No. 3 of Talkin' Shop with Metal Shop Masters, we speak with Tom Patsis about his motorsport trophy fabrication business Cold Hard Art and his winning strategy on the Netflix reality metal art competition show.

In episode No. 2 of Talkin' Shop with Metal Shop Masters, we speak with artist Luis Varela-Rico, who made name for himself by creating a number of large-scale metal art installations around Las Vegas.

Texas metal sculpture artist and welder Rae Ripple is featured in the first episode of our Talkin' Shop with Metal Shop Masters series, where we speak with contestants from the Netflix show Metal Shop Masters.

In Part II, Mitch Kraemer explains how, despite no experience with working with metal, Tim Omspach partnered with him to start Vvolfy Metalworks, entered the circus industry, and expanded the business to two U.S. locations.

Tim Omspach and Mitch Kraemer started Vvolfy Metalworks to fabricate and weld custom equipment for the circus industry while operating out of Denver and Detroit.

Sunrise Erectors Inc. specializes in the manufacture and installation of fully engineered architectural exterior wall systems throughout New England. The company resolved problems with press brake bending productivity, accuracy, and fit-up with folding technology

Advanced fabricating technology is helping to turn less experienced workers into valuable contributors in a short amount of time.

USAnchor fabricates the products that took others too long to produce. Now it wants to be the job shop of choice in Florida.