Fueled by record-setting participation last year, numerous activities are in the works for Manufacturing Day 2015, scheduled for Oct. 2.
Now in its fourth year, Manufacturing Day is a national event that aims to improve public perception of manufacturing in America. The effort is executed at the local level by thousands of manufacturers as they host students, teachers, parents, job seekers and other local community members at open houses designed to showcase modern manufacturing technology and careers.
A panel of co-producers comprised of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International (FMA), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Manufacturing Institute (MI), the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), and guest producer Industrial Strength Marketing (ISM) provide the centralized support necessary to coordinate an array of simultaneous events. Media partners for the event include Edge Factor and the Science Channel, and the national movie partner is American Made Movie.
"Manufacturing Day has had rapid acceptance by manufacturers of all sizes and from all industry sectors," said Ed Youdell, president and CEO of the FMA. "This has led us to set challenging goals again this year. Last year the 1,679 registered events welcomed nearly 400,000 participants. This year our streamlined event registration process will lead to many more events being registered on the official calendar, especially for those community and regional organizers who are putting together a number of events for their area. The co-producers are confident that the tally of events this year will exceed 2,250."
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"We will have a massive skills gap in this industry as Baby Boomers continue to retire,” said Jennifer McNelly, president of The Manufacturing Institute. “Manufacturing Day makes it possible to attract thousands of young people into manufacturing facilities so they can see for themselves that jobs in this industry are interesting, challenging, and creative and that manufacturing facilities are desirable workplaces. We know that last year more than 215,000 young people participated in Manufacturing Day events, and we are confident we will greatly exceed that number in 2015."
Manufacturing Day sponsors provide the resources to support manufacturers participating in the program.
To learn more about Manufacturing Day, visit www.mfgday.com. Organizations that would like to become involved as official sponsors can call 888 394-4362 or email [email protected] for more details.
