From Intern to Supervisor: How Custom Aluminum's Paid Internships and Tuition Program Are Transforming Manufacturing Careers

As we celebrate Internship Awareness Month in April, we're on a mission to transform how young people view manufacturing careers. Today's manufacturing is worlds away from the factories of yesterday—it's a high-tech, innovative field where creativity meets technical expertise, offering endless career possibilities for the next generation of talent.

We’re challenging outdated perceptions through education by showcasing the technical sophistication and expansive opportunities within modern manufacturing. At Custom Aluminum Products, we're not just participants in this transformation—we're catalysts.

Our educational pathways deliver hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology while eliminating financial barriers through comprehensive tuition coverage. The students that participate in our work-study and internship programs are developed into the next generation of manufacturing leaders. Our program transitions students into employees that remain at Custom Aluminum for years, and even decades.

We sat down with both current interns and former interns who are now full-time employees to highlight the success stories from our various educational programs. Through these conversations, we get a glimpse into how these educational partnerships are shaping the future of manufacturing talent. 

Finding Purpose Through Unexpected Opportunity 

Our first story comes from Luis, a current intern who discovered our program through a surprising family connection. While working at Walmart, his father presented him with a printed email containing a job offer from our company—one that included funding for his education. 

"The job offer was kind of funny," he recalls. "My dad just came in with a paper printed out email. And he's like, 'Oh, look here. I got you a new job.' It was basically saying how they had offered to pay for my school, and I said, 'Well, yeah, I'm not going to pass it by.'" 

Originally planning to pursue HVAC, his path shifted toward engineering after joining our team in October 2023. Now studying Industrial Manufacturing Technologies at Elgin Community College with plans to transfer to Northern Illinois University, he's found that his coursework directly complements his hands-on experience.  

"I've taken metrology, which I use for measuring... I've taken CAD classes which helps out in here, so I learn how to draw. Same thing with SolidWorks," he explains. What's interesting is that sometimes the workplace experience comes first: "I learned a lot here that I end up doing at school.” 

Luis has seen his skills develop throughout his time at Custom Aluminum, attributing his growth to one-on-one mentorship from a variety of career professionals. He shares that “working with a lot of high-quality individuals, and people who are good in their profession, has made me level up not just professionally, but in my people skills.”

Luis makes it clear that the mentors he’s worked with have taken the time to show him that his potential went beyond his current role. He mentions that his mentor “sees a future of me and the company together... [they’re] going try to build me up, and I have seen that happen.”

Luis also doesn't hesitate to share the impact the engineering program has had on him. 

He says that they have “changed the course of where I was going to go. I was just going to be here maybe like a couple years maybe if that... But now I see an actual career here since I switched over to the engineering side."

Luis is looking forward to developing his CNC skills. He enjoys the dynamic environment of being in this area of the manufacturing floor. His advice to prospective manufacturing students? "It is not repetitive at all, like you will always find something cool."

Leveraging Internship Insights for Innovation

Nate is a current employee who has been with the company for eight years. Nate’s professional journey with us began in 2017 when he joined our work study program as a high school student. A local resident, Nate, was drawn to the program for its engineering exposure and practical benefits: "What drew me into the program was an opportunity to get hands-on learning and experience what being in an office is like and working with professionals." 

 Starting in our drafting department, Nate soon transitioned to the samples team where he would spend the next six years developing expertise. His career path has been marked by increasing responsibility—he served as samples manager for a year, worked in production control for six months, and now supervises our kitting program at our warehouse facility.  

"The internship program gave me a lot of hands-on experience," he explains. "Understanding what we do here at Custom and the ability to work with a lot of different departments." 

While working with us, Nate pursued higher education at Kishwaukee Community College before transferring to Northern Illinois University, where he earned a degree in Industrial Management Technology. The practical knowledge gained through his internship proved invaluable to his academic success: "It gave me a base level knowledge before classes and got me kind of a head start and familiarity with the content." 

His varied experience across departments gave him a holistic understanding of our operations. "I actually got to be the samples manager for a year and then was in production control for a little while," Nate shared, highlighting the diverse opportunities available through our program. This experience prepared him for his current role as Kitting Supervisor. Nate considers developing the samples and warehousing plan for our kitting program to be his proudest accomplishment. 

Beyond technical skills, Nate has developed crucial professional skills throughout his journey. “I’ve learned a lot of independence… and how to talk to the right people,” he notes. 

For students choosing a career, Nate notes that manufacturing is multifaceted. “You may not find the thing that you like right away, but there are many different things out there to try,” he told us. His story exemplifies how our internship program helps talented individuals build meaningful careers by providing practical experience that complements academic education. 

Turning Diverse Experiences into Leadership Opportunity

Our final story comes from Payton, who began as a high school intern and has now grown into a supervisory role within our company. 

Payton's journey began at Hampshire High School, where he developed an interest in CNC operations. During his initial summer internship in 2021, he rotated through various departments—operating machines, packing, working with punch presses, sanding, and extrusion—switching areas every two weeks to gain broad exposure. 

While attending Elgin Community College as a student athlete, he continued working part-time. His interest in engineering led to opportunities in our South Elgin facility, where he updated layouts and prints. What started as labeling racks evolved into creating new prints for all buildings—a project that took over a year to complete.

His experience expanded to include updating the layout for our Genoa location, including the new Anodize building. By August 2024, he had advanced to helping with Quality Control before moving into a CNC supervisor role. 

"In any position I've been in here, I've found out that you never stop learning," Payton reflects. "Mistakes are going to happen, but having industrial experience helps with supervising role. Operating the machines helps you learn about efficiency and can help people learn." 

What drew Payton to our program initially was being a hands-on learner. He had started on the CNC pathway at Hampshire during his freshman year and never questioned his choice. When asked how the transition from intern to full-time employee felt, he noted: 

"It didn't feel like much of a jump. Not more serious, not more laid back. Just felt like moving to a new thing. I have more of a responsibility to get things done, but I enjoy the challenge and feel prepared." 

Payton credits the program with giving him "the community advantage." While peers who took similar paths elsewhere often got "stuck" with limited opportunities to explore, our program offered various value-add processes to choose from and learn. 

His advice to current interns? "Don't be scared to try different things—there's plenty to learn, plenty of positions to try, don't be discouraged if you don't like where you start, don't be scared to ask for a change, nothing is off limits, no one is going to bat an eye at you trying new things." 

Building Tomorrow's Manufacturing Talent 

These three stories illustrate the heart of our educational partnership programs. By providing hands-on experience alongside educational support, we're helping shape the next generation of manufacturing professionals. 

Our approach recognizes that learning happens in many environments—classrooms, shop floors, and one-on-one mentoring relationships. By covering educational costs, we remove barriers that might otherwise prevent talented individuals from pursuing careers in manufacturing. 

As we celebrate Internship Awareness Month, we're proud of the opportunities we've created and the talented individuals who have grown through our programs. Whether you're a high school student just beginning to explore career options, a college student seeking to apply classroom knowledge, or someone looking to develop specialized trade skills, our doors are open to those eager to learn and contribute. 

For more information about our Work-Study, Internship, or Apprenticeship Programs, please visit our Custom Education pages or contact our hiring team. For more resources on the importance of manufacturing careers and upcoming events, visit the Greater Chicago Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.