Manufacturing makes the world go ’round. Everything that turns, flies, floats, or ships was built by someone with a trade, and the country doesn’t have enough of them. Project MFG exists to change that: a national workforce development platform, backed by the Department of War’s IBAS program, that moves students from first spark to first hire.
Our competition series is the proof point. Across machining, welding, maritime welding, additive manufacturing, and metrology, students run real machines under real pressure and are judged to the same standards the industry uses on the floor.
But a trophy was never the goal. Competitions are where students find out what they’re capable of and where employers find out who’s coming. Wrapped around every event is the rest of the model: curriculum partnerships, industry mentors, career discovery, and direct connections to companies hiring skilled talent right now.
The result is a pipeline, not a podium. Students walk off the floor with skills that transfer, a network that remembers them, and a clear view of a career with no ceiling on it. Some head to the shop down the road. Some end up building for aerospace, shipyards, or defense. The trade is the ticket. The destination is up to them.
Where will the world of manufacturing take you?
Multi-discipline teams design, machine, inspect, and assemble a working product on the clock, complete with the change orders and deadlines of a real shop floor. Open to teams from high schools, community colleges, trade schools, and universities. A remote qualifying round at your school leads to regionals and finally a spot at the Clash of Trades Championship. New this season: metrology gets its own scored competition inside the series.
High school machinists compete individually on CNC programming, 3-axis milling, metrology, and inspection, with the same ticking clock and curveballs a working machinist faces. Qualify remotely at your school, ship your project to a regional scoring hub, and the top individuals advance to the National Championship.
Welders from high schools, colleges, and trade schools across the country compete on the disciplines the industry runs on: reading blueprints, working to weld procedure specifications, and laying beads that hold up to AWS standards. Two remote rounds at your school lead to the National Championship.
Teams of up to four design, print, post-process, and inspect parts using FDM printing, then send them in for dimensional analysis and destructive testing. Open to high school through university programs, on any printer and any slicer they choose. Top qualifiers advance to regionals and then to the Clash of Trades Championship.
Maritime Welding is built with partners: a handful of regional competitions hosted at shipyards, colleges, and maritime training centers, each a two-hour, in-person build judged to the same AWS standards working shipyards live by. Open to high school through university welders. The top three from every regional earn a spot at the National Championship in the spring. Regional locations and dates for 2026-27 will be announced soon.
Project MFG designs and executes competitions across the country to demonstrate the abilities of new talent and collectively inspire a movement to restore America’s industrial base.
Follow along as we share the many great manufacturing events being held nationwide.
To apply to bring Project MFG competitions to your school, complete this short questionnaire.