Sandvik Coromant “Tools Up” Workshops for Warriors with $40,000 Grant

The donation will supplement new Machining program the non-profit organization is offering at their San Diego facility and include technical and application support from the cutting tool manufacturer’s Cypress Productivity Center in Cypress, CA.

Sandvik Coromant USA (Fair Lawn, NJ), a leading producer of cutting tools for the metal cutting industry, is honored to “tool up” a great cause with a $40,000 grant worth of metal-cutting tools to Workshops for Warriors (San Diego, CA). The donation served to supplement the organization’s new Machining program at their San Diego facility. This grant will include technical and application support from the Sandvik Coromant Cypress Productivity Center (Cypress, CA).

Workshops for Warriors is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free job training, certification, and job placement to veterans. The company’s founder, Hernán Luis y Prado, was recently honored by the White House for his civilian work with the organization.

“We are both humbled and honored to be able to contribute to such an essential organization,” said Jamie Price, the president of Sandvik Coromant USA. “We’re proud that our tools will be put to valuable use in the training and education of veterans.”

Luis y Prado toured the new Cypress productivity center on Wednesday, December 5. A ceremony formally transferring the certificate for $40,000 worth of tools was held during the visit.

“We were amazed at their generosity and desire to be our partners to train, certify, and place veterans into Manufacturing Careers,” Luis y Prado said. “Their partnership was further cemented when several of their executives volunteered to help provide long-term resume and interviewing workshops for our graduates to help prepare them for their first job after the military.”

This year, Workshops for Warriors has achieved 100 percent job placement in their welding class with students trained and certified through the American Welding Society (AWS; Miami, FL) program. They have also placed an additional 59 veterans into manufacturing careers. So far, 109 veterans have been enrolled, 59 have graduated, and 146 total certificates have been received by veterans in the program. The organization currently has 369 veterans on the welding waiting list, and 137 waiting on the machining class.

Recently, the organization began a National Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS; Fairfax, VA) credentialing process and already has two graduates. Workshops for Warriors has machining facilities for milling, turning and drilling as well as welding. The classroom welding and machining labs are located in a 28,000 sq ft facility across the street from the 32nd Street Naval Base in San Diego. www.sandvikcoromant.com, www.workshopsforwarriors.org