OSG's Blog for

Did you know that some college students design and manufacture mini-baja vehicles and submarines? Not only do these students take engineering classes, but also they get to implement their knowledge by designing, machining parts and assembling a vehicle. We at OSG believe that such opportunities to actually manufacture a complete vehicle will inspire these future manufacturers and will develop their skills and creativity.

To help these students in their efforts to manufacture these vehicles, OSG donated over $30,000 in new cutting tools to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Mini-Baja Racing Team at Purdue University and the Human Powered Submarine Team at the University of Michigan.

“Through our tooling donations to the Purdue University’s Mini-Baja Racing Team and the University of Michigan’s Human Powered Submarine Team, we hope to help these engineers better understand metal cutting through the use and applications of OSG’s advanced and innovative cutting tools,” said Mike Cotton, Marketing Manager at OSG.

The SAE Mini-Baja Racing Team at Purdue University designs, manufactures and races a one-person off-road vehicle.  The team participates in three regional competitions annually. The Human Powered Submarine Team at the University of Michigan also designs and fabricates their submarines to participate in national and international competitions.

Students of the Mini-Baja Racing Team and the Human Powered Submarine Team received the tooling donations last week, and they are getting ready to install the tools in their machines. 

“These end mills are very high quality, and we are excited to put them to good use,” said Tasha Gillum, a student from the University of Michigan’s Human Powered Submarine Team.

We were glad to see the students open the boxes of new tooling with big smiles on their faces. Seeing them excited to use our tools made us realize how important it is for us to be a part of educating manufacturing students. We continue to actively work with technical colleges and universities to demonstrate our commitment to inspire the next generation of manufacturers.   

Actions speak louder than words, and we at OSG are using our new tagline – “Shaping Your Dreams” – to inspire outreach. In an ongoing effort to get more young people interested and prepared for careers in manufacturing technology, we donated over $85,000 in new tooling to Chicago-area colleges.

Mike Grzybowski, Regional Manager for OSG, has delivered tools to College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Joliet Junior College and the College of Lake County in Grayslake. Students involved in these manufacturing programs will now have access to training with industry-leading tools which will better prepare them for going into the field.

Grzybowski most recently visited the College of Lake County where instructor Jeff Hines received the donation. He was extremely appreciative of the tooling as well as the decimal charts, safety glasses and catalogs that OSG additionally provided. In reviewing the technical information within the OSG catalogs, Hines realized the valuable information it contains and will look to it for teaching lessons in the future.

Dave Szumowski, Mechanical Production Technology Instructor at Joliet Junior College, also received a visit from OSG. Szumowski truly appreciated the thought and generosity of OSG to think of Joliet Junior College and donate such a large amount of tooling for their program. He recognizes the importance of fostering an ongoing relationship with OSG moving forward, including hosting OSG guest speakers and more.

When visiting College of DuPage, Grzybowski delivered the cutting tools and other training aids to Jim Filipek, Coordinator of Manufacturing Technology. Having worked in manufacturing and machining for years before retiring and becoming a teacher, Filipek knows the importance of being trained with quality tools from the start.

“This action by OSG allows us to train the workforce of tomorrow with the tooling of today!” Filipek was grateful for the donation and believes the addition of OSG’s tooling is going to help their program tremendously.

Reaching out to these local colleges is one way that we can improve the future of students looking to go into the manufacturing industry. By providing the quality tools they need to learn the trade, we are certain to get engineers and machinists who are better prepared and more driven in the field for years to come.