MSOE students recently had the opportunity to get a glimpse into potential careers when Milwaukee Tool sent about a dozen engineers (all of whom are MSOE alumni) to campus for a hands-on demonstration of their tools. Students, faculty and members of the MSOE Facilities Department interacted with Milwaukee Tool’s engineers and learned more about the engineering that went into the development and creation of the tools.

Industry partnerships are a critical part of the MSOE curriculum and a practice that is mutually beneficial: leading manufacturers have access to potential future employees and students experience real-world applications of their education.

“Milwaukee Tool is a longtime supporter of MSOE and we are continuing to increase our contributions,” said Matt Bertsch ’97, vice president of engineering – cordless NPD at Milwaukee Tool.

The company recently showed their support of the university with a donation that will both enhance the classroom experience and the campus as a whole. MSOE was the grateful recipient of nearly $15,000 worth of Milwaukee Tool products for the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Facilities Department, which allowed them to standardize their tool set and have a consistent set of batteries and devices to maintain laboratories as well as campus buildings and grounds.

“This donation is a welcome addition to the tools available to our students for work on class and senior projects,” said Dr. Matthew Panhans, chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department. “Not only will it help their projects, the students are benefitting from the relationship MSOE has with Milwaukee Tool.”

“We view MSOE as a strategic partner to our growth and want the facilities staff to have the best tools to do their jobs. Through our contributions to labs, SAE, ASME, IEEE, etc. we want to strengthen our brand recognition on campus as well as provide students and staff excellent tools to do their jobs and become the world’s best engineers.”

In addition, the hands-on demo served as an opportunity for students to register their information and credentials with Milwaukee Tool in advance of the MSOE Career Fair, where the company would be an exhibitor. Ninety-six students registered, and many of them were interviewed on campus after interacting with Milwaukee Tool’s recruiters at the Career Fair—several received immediate offers.

“We considered it a huge success and are discussing future events of similar or larger scope. Milwaukee Tool has an incredible amount of opportunities for MSOE students and graduates: new product development, mechanism design, value engineering, quality, test engineering, firmware, hardware, software, App development,” said Bertsch. “Milwaukee Tool is an engineer’s paradise – we strive to employ the best and brightest while equipping them with the highest caliber of support equipment, software and staff. Milwaukee Tool has grown at over 20 percent per year since 2009 and we have aggressive plans to continue this world-class expansion. We are continuously recruiting for new team members to join us in our vision and culture.”