Whether you’re new to the gear or bearing industry or a veteran engineer looking to sharpen a specific skill, MPMA’s 2026 education catalog has something designed for you. From intensive multi-day in-person courses to focused single-session online trainings to on-demand content you can access anytime, the breadth of what’s available this year is notable — and strategic. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all offering. It’s a curriculum built to meet engineers, designers, and manufacturing professionals exactly where they are.
Live Courses: In the Room and Online
MPMA offers more than 25 live courses each year, and the schedule runs well beyond spring with a full slate of in-person and virtual options continuing through the summer and into the fall. For those who learn best in a hands-on environment, Basic Training for Gear Manufacturing is a foundational week-long deep dive into gear nomenclature, manufacturing methods, hobbing, shaping, and inspection. Students will work on real machines and learn real process physics at the center of the instruction. The April session in Chicago is already sold out, which is a testament to how much demand exists for this course. The good news is the same course runs again September 28-October 2, 2026. Registration is open now, and given how quickly the April session filled, securing a spot early is strongly encouraged.
Gear Failure Analysis, coming to Detroit in June, takes a similar hands-on approach. Students don’t just see slides of failed gears, they hold and examine more than 130 specimens, work through case studies in groups, and use microscopes to get close to the evidence. This class will be at the LIFT facility, so a tour of the facility is a bonus. MPMA will also provide Advanced Concepts of Bearing Technology and EV Automotive Transmission System Design, both in Schaumburg in May — a well-timed pairing for teams navigating the evolving demands of electric vehicle powertrain development. And Fundamentals of Parallel Axis Gearing brings attendees to Clearwater Beach, Florida, in June for a multi-day course covering gear geometry, design principles, measurement, and failure mode fundamentals.
For engineers who can’t travel, the live online options are just as substantive. A Practical Approach to Managing Gear Noise in May delivers two focused sessions on the physics of gear whine and rattle, testing techniques, and countermeasures directly applicable to the growing demand for quieter systems across EV and industrial applications. Later in the summer, Design Basics of Spur and Helical Gears, Involute Spline Design and Rating, and Basic Loaded Tooth Contact Analysis Theory each deliver targeted, expert-led training in a single day or two, minimizing time away from work while maximizing technical return. The breadth of the summer calendar means, regardless of where a professional is in their career or how much time they can commit, there is a course designed to fit.
On-Demand: Learn on Your Schedule
Not every learning need fits a calendar. MPMA’s on-demand library gives engineers and managers access to a growing collection of premium technical content available whenever it’s convenient. Topics span the full range of gear engineering: contact stresses, gearbox field inspections, gear microgeometry and load distribution, metallurgy of gear materials, additive manufacturing technologies for gears, and more. For teams onboarding new employees or refreshing foundational knowledge, the Workforce Training series, including Fundamentals of Gearing 2.0, is available as a member benefit at no additional cost.
Our newest on-demand course is our flagship Gear Failure Analysis. Gear Failure Analysis, originally taught by Bob Errichello, teaches students the causes of gear failure and how to prevent it from occurring. Avoiding gear failure can save thousands of dollars on repair costs. Lance Brown, MPMA senior technical instructor, provides the training in this video (just recorded in 2026). Brown is new to the MPMA staff, but he brings more than 30 years of experience in gear design for medical, defense, commercial/consumer, and robotics.
On-demand courses are structured to ensure real learning outcomes, not passive watching. Most include pre-tests, final exams, and a minimum passing score. Certificates of completion are issued through MPMA’s classroom portal once all components, including a course survey, are finished.
Certificate Programs: A Credential That Means Something
For professionals committed to long-term development — and for companies invested in building a skilled, credentialed workforce — MPMA offers two formal certificate programs: the Gear Manufacturing Certificate and the Advanced Gear Engineering Certificate. More than 3,000 individuals have earned certificates through AGMA’s education department, and the programs remain among the most respected credentials in the gear industry.
The Gear Manufacturing Certificate requires a student to complete Basic Training for Gear Manufacturing, Fundamentals of Parallel Axis Gearing, Gear Manufacturing and Inspection, and two additional advanced courses. The Advanced Gear Engineering Certificate is built around any five advanced courses from a designated list that includes Gear Failure Analysis, Gearbox CSI, Detailed Gear Design, Bevel Gear Design, Epicyclic Gear Design, and several others. Both programs require live instruction — face-to-face or instructor-led virtual — ensuring earners have genuinely engaged with the material, not just consumed it.
The courses on the 2026 calendar aren’t just professional development checkboxes. They’re direct investments in the technical depth that separates good manufacturing organizations from great ones. Whether you’re registering for a single online session or building toward a certificate, the knowledge transfers immediately — to the floor, to the design table, and to the bottom line.
Find the full schedule and register at agma.org.
Upcoming Courses
A Practical Approach to Managing Gear Noise
May 12-13 | Online
“A Practical Approach for Managing Gear Noise” combines theory with practical testing and simulation techniques used to manage gear noise. Topics focus on insights into the mechanisms for both whine and rattle, the two most common categories of gear “noise.” The course presents clear explanations relating subjective evaluations of audible noise to objective actions, including troubleshooting and countermeasures. Concepts are supported with a number of sound and movie files. Technical papers supporting certain concepts are cited for the students’ further study.
Advanced Concepts of Bearing Technology
May 18-21 | Schamburg, Illinois
This course builds on the foundations of the Essential Course and challenges the experienced engineer in areas such as internal loading and Hertzian stresses, failure initiation criteria, friction and wear, and fatigue life calculation methods. This is an exceptional course for engineers with two to three years work experience in rolling element bearings or past attendees of the Essential Concepts of Bearing Technology. A general knowledge of the basic bearing types and terminology is required.
EV Automotive Transmission System Design
May 19-21 | Schamburg, Illinois
This course will cover all aspects of gearbox concept, development, design, and through the initial stages of analysis as related to product requirements. We will review all the most common EV transaxle architectures, power flow and layout and the “whys” of packaging as such. Independent of the architecture and/or layout, there are many similarities in the functional and operational requirements of an EV transaxle gearbox. We will work through all of those and develop a workable set of requirements that will then be used as the design basis. From a high-level point of view the “Big” difference between transaxles for EVs (Electric Vehicles) and transmissions designed for more traditional Manual Transmissions (MTs) and/or Automatic Transmissions (ATs) is the lack of the “noisy” internal combustion engine or ICE motor. An internal combustion engine driving into a typical gearbox provides a great deal of NVH masking. Thus, we obviously need to design quieter gearboxes to reduce the potential of observed gearbox NVH, now potentially unmasked by the lack of the ICE signature and magnitude. However, and moreover, the signature from an ICE is much different than from the electric motor. The new input signature, frequency, and magnitude, cause a shift to higher frequencies and generally lower magnitudes of vibrational energies. That in turn becomes a more significant consideration in terms of gear design and application. We will discuss this and more throughout the course.
Fundamentals of Parallel Axis Gearing
June 2-4 | Clearwater Beach, Florida
Gain a solid and fundamental understanding of gear geometry, types and arrangements, and basic design principles. Starting with the basic definitions of gears, conjugate motion, and the Laws of Gearing, learn the tools needed to understand the inter-relation and coordinated motion operating within gear pairs and multi-gear trains. Basic gear system design process, gear measurement and inspection techniques will also be explained. In addition, the fundamentals of understanding the stepwise process of working through the iterative design process required to generate a gear pair will be reviewed. Learn the steps and issues involved in design refinement and some manufacturing considerations.
An explanation of basic gear measurement techniques, how measurement equipment and test machines implement these techniques, and how to interpret the results from these basic measurements will also be covered. Finally, a brief overview of in-service failure modes and causes.
Gear Failure Analysis
June 9-11 | Detroit, Michigan
Explore gear failure analysis in this hands-on seminar where students not only see slides of failed gears but can hold and examine more than 130 specimens with the same failure modes covered in the seminar. Approximately half of the course time consists of students in groups identifying failure modes on failed gears and working on a case study. Microscopes are available to examine failed specimens.
Analytical Gear Chart Interpretation
June 23 | Online
This course is an introduction to the methodology of analytical gear inspection and the evaluation and interpretation of the resulting data. The application of this information to identify and correct manufacturing errors will begin to be explored. Additionally, it reviews chart interpretation and applies inspection data to understand the causes and cures of manufacturing errors. Many chart examples are used to understand cause and effect.
Design Basics of Spur and Helical Gears
July 13 | Online
Learn how to develop and understand customer gear drive application specifications and target performance expectations. Review, calculate, and select basic gear terminology variables and design parameters that define tooth bending and contact rating safety factors on two real-life examples. Learn how to optimize gear fatigue safety factors for a given target design life and fit new gear designs and ratios into existing center distance using profile shift. Use commercially available software to develop gear geometry factors, calculate and optimize gear set power density and performance. Review common gear failure modes if the design or final accuracy does not meet application requirements.
Involute Spline Design and Rating
July 14-15 | Online
This course will address both geometry and rating of involute splines of various types. The types of spline joints and their applications will be discussed. Spline configuration variations, including half depth, full depth, and special function designs will be addressed. Both fixed and flexible spline configurations will be examined in terms of usage and design. Lubrication methods, including grease, oil bath, and flowing oil, as well as coatings appropriate for various spline applications, are examined. Shear and compressive stress rating methods are discussed with analyses methodology presented in both equation and graphical methodology via various rating charts.
Basic Loaded Tooth Contact Analysis Theory
July 16 | Online
Evaluation of loaded tooth contact and development of tooth modifications using commercially available software to improve and apply a realistic load distribution factor Km in gear rating calculations. Two real life gearing examples will be presented in the course, one will have a cantilever mounted pinion, the other a shaft pinion straddled non-symmetrically by bearings. Both examples demonstrate component deflections under load that significantly reduce tooth mesh contact that is then corrected with developed helix and profile modifications. Other gear performance optimization tools also will be presented: material and heat-treatment selection, profile shift, isotropic finishing, shot peening, and accuracy.
