Beginning in 1992, Fredon Corporation has partnered with the Boy Scouts of America’s Explorer program to offer the “Cannons of Fredon”, an innovative apprenticeship and training program for local high-school and vocational-school students. Recognizing the recent lack of qualified skilled machinists, and the rapid disappearance of manufacturing from American cities, the company sought to reach out to schools and students. By educating them about the high-tech nature of modern machining and metalworking, we hope to re-affirm the viability of careers in American manufacturing.

We proudly display each of the cannons that our "Cannons of Fredon" classes have made throughout the years. These cannons represent the hard work that each and every student and Fredon employee puts into the program year after year. The kind words of parents and teachers serve as fuel to keep us going. The program has continued to grow each year, and we have graduated well over 200 students to date, several of whom have gone on to rewarding careers here at Fredon.

The cannons also symbolize to us the future of the manufacturing and machine trades industries. We feel that companies need to open their doors and welcome students, parents and school faculty members into their facilities and talk to them about the industry. Parents, school representatives and peers are the ones who have the most influence on our young people, so we need to show them what a career in the manufacturing and machining industries is all about. The days of hot, dark, greasy factories are gone and high-tech, clean, climate-controlled manufacturing facilities have taken their place.

We need young people to enter into Tech Prep programs and Apprenticeship Training programs in order to keep our industry continuing on into the future. Our company, as well as our country, needs highly skilled machinists to keep fighting to compete in our global economy. It is up to companies like ours to partner with our educators to give students the opportunity to explore what our industry is all about.

We are passionate about the education of our youth - and we are committed to making students aware of the successful careers available to them in the manufacturing and machine trades industries.