MJM Wins Amada Technical Encouragement Award

Award · Craftsmanship · March 2026

MJM Wins a Technical Encouragement Award at Amada’s 38th Precision Sheet Metal Technology Fair

MJM Manufacturing has been honored with a Technical Encouragement Award at the 38th Precision Sheet Metal Technology Fair, presented by the Amada School of Vocational Training Corporation. The recognition celebrates a full-size aluminum electric guitar our team designed and fabricated entirely in-house — and it came on MJM’s very first entry into the competition.

The Precision Sheet Metal Technology Fair is an international skill contest started in 1989 by the Amada School to promote advanced sheet metal processing technologies. Each year, fabricators from around the world submit work across several categories, and pieces are selected through careful judging. For a shop’s first-ever submission to be recognized alongside entrants from Japan and across the globe is a milestone we’re genuinely proud of.

The Piece: An Aluminum Guitar, Built From Scratch

Standing roughly 48 inches tall — the size of a real instrument — the guitar was fabricated almost entirely from aluminum. Its most striking feature is the hand-worked engine-turned “spun” finish that flows across the body and up the neck, catching the light in overlapping arcs. Every detail of a real guitar is there: the pickups, control knobs, bridge, tuning pegs, and fret markers, all rendered in metal.

The build combines a shaped aluminum body and back plate with a clear plexiglass layer cut to the exact profile of the guitar, and a subtly contrasting brushed area where a pick would strike the strings — a small, deliberate touch that shows the level of thought behind the piece. It sits upright on a matching spun-aluminum base.

Bringing a piece like this to life takes the same disciplines we apply to every production job — precision laser cutting, careful forming, finishing, and assembly — pushed into the realm of art. It’s a showcase of what our team can do when craftsmanship is the whole point.

Recognized by Amada — the Machines Behind Our Shop

This recognition carries special meaning because it comes from Amada. Amada is one of the most respected sheet metal machinery manufacturers in the world, and its equipment is at the heart of our shop floor — our five Amada laser cutting systems, our Amada press brakes, and our Amada Fabri-Vision inspection system among them.

Earning a craftsmanship award from the company whose machines we run every day — and whose training school hosts this fair — is a meaningful endorsement of the skill our team brings to the equipment. Great machines matter, but it’s the people operating them who turn sheet metal into something exceptional.

47 Years of Craftsmanship

A piece like this doesn’t come from equipment alone — it comes from decades of accumulated skill. For 47 years, MJM has built its reputation on the craftsmanship of a team where many members have been with us for 20, 30, and 40+ years. That depth of experience is what lets us hold precision on demanding production programs, and it’s the same skill on display in an award-winning aluminum guitar.

Congratulations to our team on this well-earned recognition — and thank you to Amada and the Precision Sheet Metal Technology Fair for the honor. We’re already looking forward to next year.