Composites training: A business game-changer

Sept. 10, 2025 – When Samir Bera of Artech Industries Inc. in Riverside, Calif., boarded a flight to Florida in 2023, he wasn’t chasing frequent flyer miles – he was chasing innovation.

The Artech operations manager jetted across the country in the name of education and expanding his horizons.

His trip took him to the University of Florida, where Samir took part in an America’s Cutting Edge CNC machining bootcamp.

“We do machining in-house for our load cells,” he said. “The experience was amazing.”

After the announcement of Winona State University as the first ACE Composites training hub, Samir started looking for flights again as he saw another opportunity for enrichment.

“This bootcamp gives me an understanding of how components we use in our business fit into the big picture,” he said. “This is challenging me to consider how we source products. That’s a benefit.”

ACE Composites bootcamp basics

Samir and other participants got hands-on experience during the inaugural June bootcamp with the various products and processes involved in the composites realm – like running injection and compression molding machines, spending time mixing resins and doing hand-layups.

Winona State focuses on the ACE Composites in Automotive course, meaning the material learned in the bootcamp is related more to the automotive industry, but the applications aren’t restricted to that realm.

There are additional online courses focused on composites machining, energy storage, aerospace, and nondestructive testing.

The time spent with other participants, Samir said, is another benefit to the training.

“Coming to these bootcamps gives you an opportunity to interact with people from different backgrounds,” he said. “The dialogue you have with other participants can spark an idea that improves your business.”

Other benefits for manufacturing industry

That same spirit of idea sparking made an August Winona composites bootcamp worthwhile for Matt Thorn, operations director with Magestic Technologies, a manufacturing software company.

“We’re always developing new technology to improve the process,” Matt said. “Developers can get a sense of real-life situations. They can translate that to the software.”

“If you don’t know those fundamentals, how can you make new software?” added Joe Viola, senior application engineer with Magestic. He joined Matt for the August bootcamp.

Beyond leveling up their software to keep up with modern demands, Matt sees the bootcamp helping shorten the onboarding process time for new employees and upskilling them quicker.

“When I was first hired, I spent a while learning,” he said. “This can help bring people up to speed much quicker.”

As with ACE CNC machining bootcamps, there’s no cost to attend.

Matt says that lowers the barrier to entry, making it easier to get composites training.

“There aren’t enough resources for entry-level processes,” he said. “Courses like this help.”

Get started with an ACE Composites course now. Register here.

Keep an eye out for future composites bootcamp opportunities by visiting our bootcamps calendar.