Campbell’s backs Milwaukee manufacturing technician training

A planned Milwaukee technician course

Campbell’s has committed $500,000 to Per Scholas’ first advanced manufacturing technician programme, planned for Greater Milwaukee in 2027. A $250,000 grant supported development; another $250,000 will fund 25 learners.

The free, 15-week course will provide more than 400 hours of training for manufacturing and automation technician roles. Its curriculum includes:

• Industrial electricity and motor-driven systems;
• Fluid power and troubleshooting;
• Precision maintenance;
• OSHA-10 and NFPA 70E safety credentials.

Year-long planning included factory visits, technician interviews and observation of high-speed production lines. Per Scholas benchmarked more than 200 technicians to identify maintenance skills.

Per Scholas president Caitlyn Brazill linked the partnership to employers’ technical needs. The nonprofit intends to adapt the Milwaukee model for other manufacturing communities. With Focusing Philanthropy, it also aims to raise $50 million for physical-technology and infrastructure training over three years.

Separate Wisconsin grants support employer training

Wisconsin announced a separate $6.6 million training package on October 13, 2026. Governor Tony Evers and the Department of Workforce Development offered WisTRAIN grants to 82 employers for programmes intended to train 3,823 workers in advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence.

In Milwaukee County, Microbial Discovery Group received an offer of $168,000 for 30 existing employees and five new hires. Planned instruction covers advanced fermentation operations, manufacturing analytics, AI-enabled manufacturing, manufacturing execution systems and project management across its technical teams.

Midwest Engineered Systems, in Waukesha County, was offered $80,000 to train 40 existing employees in robotics integration, digital twins, predictive maintenance and AI applications. Another Milwaukee County recipient, Adept Manufacturing and Gauging, was offered $33,000 for five new hires’ CNC machining and precision-inspection training.

WisTRAIN supports employer-driven occupational instruction using federal funding. Wisconsin was one of 14 states awarded support through the federal Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund. These awards concern a separate employer grant programme; they do not represent additional funding for Campbell’s announced cohort.

A conditional national workforce forecast

A Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute study published on April 3, 2024, projected that manufacturers in the United States could need as many as 3.8 million additional employees between 2024 and 2033. Up to 1.9 million positions could remain unfilled if skills and applicant gaps persisted.

Those figures describe a national projection over a decade, rather than a count of current Milwaukee vacancies. The research combined a survey of more than 200 manufacturers, executive interviews, labour-market information and economic analysis. Its occupations of interest included industrial maintenance technicians alongside engineers, data specialists and other technical roles.

Manufacturers were already using outside partnerships to develop their workforce. More than nine in ten surveyed organisations had at least one such arrangement, averaging four or more. Technical colleges, industry associations and universities were among the most common partners.

The study also recorded the importance of retaining staff: 65% of respondents to the National Association of Manufacturers’ first-quarter 2024 outlook survey identified attracting and retaining talent as their principal business challenge.