HTEC 2025 MidWest Conference

Belleville, IL – Last week, Project MFG had the chance to attend the 2025 HTEC Conference, hosted at the brand-new Advanced Manufacturing Academy at Southwestern Illinois College, and it did not disappoint.

The conference brought together over 300 educators, industry leaders, and technical training pros from across the world, including Canada, Estonia, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and more. This jam-packed week provided a variety of activities, including hands-on workshops, demos, peer-led sessions, and plenty of networking. It was all about advancing CNC education and pushing the limits of what’s possible in manufacturing classrooms and training spaces.

Throughout the week, Project MFG hosted two seminar sessions, where we had a chance to introduce attendees to who we are, what we do, and how we’re working to elevate skilled trades through high-energy, real-world competitions. From our mission to competition formats to how schools can get involved, we covered it all.

We also opened up the room for feedback from current instructors who’ve had teams compete in our events. It was a great way to learn what’s working, what we can do better, and how we can keep improving the experience for both educators and students.

“Any and all feedback is very valuable to us,” said Bill Ross, COO at Project MFG. “If the experience is good, and it gets these students excited about entering the workforce, that right there is what Project MFG is all about. So we want to do whatever we need to do to make that happen.”

As a bonus, we gave attendees an exclusive sneak peek at Season 5 of the Clash of Trades: Advanced Manufacturing Competition Series! Right now, Episodes 1–3 are streaming on YouTube, and the season finale is set to premiere on Friday, August 8. But before that, we’re dropping the official finale trailer this Friday, August 1, so stay tuned!

The 2025 HTEC Conference was a great reminder of just how strong the manufacturing education community is. We left feeling inspired and even more motivated to keep achieving our mission to promote, elevate and accelerate the skilled trades.