Kevin Bloyed | Dean Machine Inc. machinist, instructor in We Make RI program
Kevin Bloyed of South Kingstown has spent time working in retail, restaurants and hospitality. He’s also attended college, but it wasn’t a good fit. The route he did take into manufacturing is one the 26-year-old feels grateful he found. Today he is teaching CNC machining through We Make RI and working at Dean Machine in Cranston.
1. How did you discover manufacturing? I found We Make RI on the R.I. Department of Labor and Training website. … Having not finished college, I was looking for something to give me a leg up.
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I completed the CNC Machining certificate program and began working as an apprentice at [CNC job shop supplier] Dean Machine in Cranston. I was working with older gentlemen who had been there for 30 or 40 years and never went to school.
2. What do you want people, especially younger people, to know about manufacturing? I don’t think a lot of people focus on how much manufacturing is done in Rhode Island. When I was in high school, machine operating and manufacturing were not really brought up as an option to me. … Opportunities are right at your feet.
It’s really criminal … promoting the idea that you have to come out of college at 20 or 21 with more debt than some countries. It sets people up to be in a hole.
Manufacturing has great benefits. It’s given me a completely different lifestyle and career with a foothold on my future.
3. You’ve been a CNC machining teacher now for six months. What kinds of students are in your classes? It’s about a third females to men, so in a class of nine, about three will be women. About 90% of my students have families. That’s one of the things we stress. If you are looking for a career and a long-term path, manufacturing can set people up for the long run. It’s not temporary work. It’s what I try to impart to students.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
