Manufacturing Day Success

Across the country on October 2 this year, companies of all stripes opened their doors to young people in an effort to expose the next generation to career opportunities in manufacturing. The annual effort, called Manufacturing Day, is designed to dispel incorrect images of what working in a modern manufacturing environment is really about.

Seco Tools hosted 170 Detroit Metro high school students who visited the company’s Troy, Michigan, headquarters. Seco partnered with MSC Industrial Supply for the event, which highlighted the diverse job options available within the manufacturing industry.

Students attending Manufacturing Day at Seco selected from a variety of breakout sessions highlighting unique careers, including IT, engineering, CAD, distribution, production and sales. Industry experts and college advisors were on hand to meet with students and answer questions about these career paths.

The ongoing motivation for Manufacturing Day activities is the need to find candidates for the job shortages in manufacturing. According to results from a skills gap study released earlier this year by the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte, over the next decade almost 3.5 million manufacturing jobs likely need to be filled. The skills gap, caused in part by an anticipated increase in manufacturing jobs because of economic expansion and baby boomer retirements, is expected to result in 2 million of those jobs going unfilled. 

Organized by the National Association of Manufacturers, Manufacturing Day is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers. It occurs annually on the first Friday in October. This year’s Manufacturing Day included 2,397 events hosted throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

This grassroots movement continues to grow year over year and represents the industry working together to solve a universal problem that affects the present and future manufacturing growth.