On November 26, under a crisp autumn sky, 192 students from the Electromechanical and Mold Engineering College of Taizhou Vocational College of Science & Technology arrived at Zhejiang Kaihua Moulds Co., Ltd. Filled with youthful energy and a thirst for knowledge, they set out to explore the mysteries of intelligent manufacturing.
These students are freshmen of the Class of 2025, majoring in Mold Design and Manufacturing. This visit forms an essential part of their first year cognitive internship. Just a week earlier, nearly 200 freshmen from the Numerical Control Technology program at the same college completed their own cognitive internship at Kaihua. Each year, Kaihua welcomes close to 1,000 students from various universities for such programs, turning its 33,000 square meter modern workshop into an extended classroom of the Kaihua Mold Industry College.
Co founded by Kaihua and Taizhou Vocational College of Science & Technology, the Kaihua Mold Industry College began operations in late 2021. With a total investment of 25 million RMB and covering an area of 1,000 square meters, it is equipped with high end mold manufacturing equipment and intelligent manufacturing units, including DMG Mori and Makino 5 axis machining centers, wire EDM machines, EDM machines, and Coordinate Measuring Machines. Following a factory in college model, it has fully relocated the automotive interior plastic mold production line to the campus.
More than 50 industrial engineers from Kaihua provide immersive teaching and practical training through real production processes and project cases. Through internships, job rotations, fixed positions, and on the job training, students can thoroughly master relevant techniques and skills, identify suitable career paths, and grow into the versatile high end technical talents urgently needed by Taizhou’s mold industry.
By 2025, the Industry College will have trained nearly 600 students across four cohorts. Some of them have joined Kaihua directly, becoming dedicated team members like their mentors; others have entered the workforce, applying their skills to become a vital force in the mold industry.
In 2025, Kaihua and the college will continue to collaborate in building a talent training standard system and exploring reforms in talent development models:
Early enrollment stage: To address gaps in students’ career awareness, a one mentor guiding multiple apprentices model is implemented.
Mid training stage: Students rotate through specialized positions such as mold design, manufacturing, assembly, and project management, following a multiple mentors guiding one apprentice approach.
Late training stage: After specialized practical learning, students gain clearer career direction. Based on their strengths, interests, and career expectations, they are paired with skilled, stable, and promotion ready employees as mentors, adopting a one on one mentoring model.
In 2025, the provincial level Excellent Engineer Practice Base established by Kaihua Moulds successfully gained approval. Operating under an enterprise led, government guided, and university enterprise collaboration mechanism, the base draws on the industrial foundation of Taizhou, known as the Hometown of Molds in China. It aligns with China’s manufacturing power strategy and Zhejiang’s 415X industrial plan, leveraging Kaihua’s strength as a National Single Champion in Manufacturing. Focused on addressing pain points such as talent mismatch, idle technology, and fragmented ecosystems, the base aims to build a mold plus application industrial chain closed loop, jointly establishing a practice base for excellent engineers in precision mold and molding technology.
Looking back, small sparks have gathered into a torch; looking forward, the dawn of progress is already breaking. Let us continue to work hand in hand, overcome challenges, and jointly cultivate on site engineer type intelligent mold manufacturing talents who are proficient in operation, knowledgeable in processes, capable of management, skilled in collaboration, innovative, and guided by a craftsman’s spirit.
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Post time: Dec-02-2025