The number one legislative priority of the Reshoring Initiative has long been strengthening our skilled workforce. The biggest obstacle has been our country’s and our government’s obsession with “a college degree for everyone.” We strongly prefer “a good career for everyone.” In this series we advance our advocacy by demonstrating that an apprenticeship is an excellent basis for achieving the career success normally associated with obtaining only university degrees.
In part one and part two of this collection, I discussed how a strong U.S. apprenticeship program will sustain and help to reshore millions of manufacturing jobs. The articles acquainted you with a total of six successful manufacturing leaders who started their careers as apprentices – proving a university degree is not an indispensable criterion or, at least, not the required first step to achieving career success.
In part three of this collection, you will meet Douglas K. Woods, president of the AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, and a lifelong manufacturing leader, who began his notable career as an apprentice.
Doug Woods with wife Mary Woods in his early years.
Doug Woods has held his position as president of AMT since 2009. Prior to joining AMT, Doug held executive positions at several manufacturing companies, serving as president and CEO of Liberty Precision Industries and president of Parlec Inc. He also held key management positions at Alliance Tool Corp., Gleason, and Cross & Trecker. He also served as Chairman of AMT’s Board of Directors.
Woods’ passion for the industry began when he was an apprentice toolmaker at Alliance Tool & Die Corporation in Rochester, New York. He started in 1976 when he was just 15 years old, working summers while in high school and college and then continuing there for a bit after college.
Woods says, "Since you had to be 16 years old in New York State to work in a factory, I was first assigned to the tool crib my first summer. It was quite handy as I learned the name and sizes of every nut, bolt, tap, or endmill in the place – plus I got to learn all the toolmaker’s names as they came to get tools.”
Woods continues, “My grandfather, Karl Fuchs, was the founder of Alliance Tool Corp., which he started with eight other partners in 1947. By 1980, Alliance had grown into one of the largest contract manufacturing companies in the United States, with over 1,200 employees. He had a unique combination of people skills, technical skills, entrepreneurial skills, and a tireless commitment to the industry and the community. One of his favorite sayings was, ‘Success never surprises you, you keep working for it!’ — it was his subtle way of saying stay hungry, stay focused, stay humble; keep learning, keep pushing, there is always room to be better!”
Woods says about the apprenticeship: “Alliance had a very structured apprenticeship program which allowed for training in many disciplines. Alliance had eleven divisions which included precision machining, special machine building/automation, precision plastics, metal stamping, Fresnel optics, testing, etc. My primary focus was largely in precision machining and automation.” After finishing his apprenticeship, Woods obtained a B.S. in business from Syracuse University.
Doug Woods’ career progressed as he held diverse positions in manufacturing engineering, quality management, operations, product development, sales, and leadership.
Douglas Woods, president, AMT
Woods served as AMT’s chairman of the board 2005-2006 and served as its director from 2000 until 2008. Currently, he serves on the boards of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing & Machining and the Reshoring Initiative. He was also active in the National Tooling & Machining Association and was awarded their Distinguished Service Award.
Woods is president and on the board of the MTConnect Institute and has led the effort in developing MTConnect, the industry-wide interoperability standard that has grown in usage and implementation across a wide scope of manufacturing operations around the world. Additionally, he has overseen the development of MTInsight, a customized manufacturing business intelligence platform, as well as an expansion of AMT’s Global Technology Centers and the growth of IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show, the largest manufacturing technology event in the western hemisphere.
Lifelong Learning Doug Woods is a firm advocate for lifelong learning and professional development, and he shares the following: ”One of the things that I’ve learned in my career in manufacturing technology is that while there are certainly some fundamentals when it comes to cutting and forming and measuring and assembling and scheduling, and all those things we’ve learned about performing business, there is one thing that is, paradoxically, the same: Change is a constant. Navigating massive, ongoing changes aren’t simple. But we can’t help but be encouraged to see that the field of manufacturing technology is rapidly evolving to help develop the tools and techniques that drive all of us forward. If you stay on top of it, change can be transformative. Even education and training for workers will change, as technology becomes more accessible but also develops at a more rapid pace – in effect, education will need to adapt to become as agile and flexible as the technology.”
Share An Apprentice-to-Leadership Story If your path to success started with an apprenticeship program, please consider contributing to our “Industry Leaders Who Started As Apprentices” series. Share your story with us at this link to promote manufacturing apprenticeships nationwide or contact me at harry.moser@reshorenow.org.
Are You Thinking About Reshoring? Let’s collaborate to support skilled workforce development and rebuild the U.S. manufacturing base. For help, contact me at 847-867-1144 or email me at harry.moser@reshorenow.org. Our main mission is to get companies to do the math correctly using our free online Total Cost of Ownership Estimator (TCO). By using the TCO, companies can better evaluate sourcing, identify alternatives, and even make a case when selling against imports.
