CNC Training Reaches Prison Inmates

Here’s to the crazy ones, the innovators—Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison … Titan Gilroy. Titan Gilroy? Who is he? He is the combination of Jon Taffer of “Bar Rescue” and Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs.” He is an in-your-face change agent with a TV show on MavTV called “Titan American Built” who wants to solve the skilled trades gap (specifically in the CNC space) and reinvigorate the skilled labor workforce. The most interesting part is that he is willing to start at the lowest level of the American workforce—the prison system—and he is willing to teach the inmates for free.

Titan, a former boxer and prison inmate himself, has a plan. He is building an advanced CNC training facility inside of San Quentin Prison in California. He is going to teach selected inmates using his own vetting and selection process, create his own CNC training curriculum and assign the inmates CNC projects designed to make them CNC experts. 

Why is he starting his CNC training program in the prison system? The data shows that more than 70 percent of all inmates return to prison within five years of being paroled. Once they get out of prison, they don’t have many marketable skills, plus they have a felony record, further diminishing their likelihood of securing gainful employment. No job equals no income, which equals hopelessness and a return to a life of crime.

By training the inmates to become CNC machinists, Titan is able to connect those seeking a job to a demographic in the marketplace that is desperate for a next-generation workforce. According to the ManpowerGroup’s annual Talent Shortage Survey of 2015, skilled trades workers are the No. 1 job category that is hardest to fill for the sixth consecutive year in the U.S. For the fourth consecutive year, skilled trade roles are the hardest to fill globally. As baby boomers retire, this shortage is only projected to increase in the next decade.  

This is a tipping point opportunity for someone like Titan. Titan has had his CNC machine shop called Titan America MFG in Rocklin, California, since 2005. He has seen firsthand the skilled trade shortage. He is betting that because of the lack of skilled CNC machinists, employers may choose to work with non-violent felons who have the necessary skills they have acquired in Titan’s training program. By providing inmates with marketable skills, Titan believes he is giving them the ability to acquire a good job and stay out of prison.

His ultimate goal is two-fold:

• First, he wants to put every instruction document, program, project, print, video and bonus footage online to create the biggest CNC teaching platform ever developed. He pledges that all projects and instructional content will be available for free download.

Titan’s belief is that the manufacturing community needs to give all college teachers, students and future machinists free online training. He also believes that existing CNC shops need to be taught advanced machining techniques and have access to new tools and processes, which will allow the companies to compete in a global economy. To achieve this goal, he will show CNC shops around the nation the latest in CNC machine technology and will teach them new methods to solve difficult problems.

• Second, he wants to see his CNC training facility in San Quentin copied and reproduced in prisons across America. This platform would allow him to reach hundreds of inmates, impacting their lives, along with their families. Additionally, by training them and keeping them gainfully employed, the American tax payer is saving thousands of dollars annually in incarceration costs.

To bring the human interest side of the inmates’ struggles, and to document his programs, Titan will be broadcasting the best of this journey on his TV show. Stay tuned.