Manufacturing Day: Inspiring and Preparing Students

On October 7, Southeast Michigan celebrated Manufacturing Day. I had the chance to hang out with students from schools in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties.

In Macomb County, 45 students from the Utica Community Schools’ Center for Science and Industry (CSI) and 15 students from Romeo Community Schools were invited to tour Fori Automation‘s global headquarters in Shelby Township. Fori builds assembly, testing, and welding equipment used by the auto, aerospace, construction, and nuclear energy industries. The company employs about 650 people around the world, including nearly 300 in Macomb County. It has been a regular Macomb County Manufacturing Day partner – committed to ensuring manufacturing remains in Southeast Michigan by helping to build the future workforce.

Fori has participated in Manufacturing Day for the last four years. Paul Meloche, Fori’s vice president of sales, engaged students in a discussion about the diverse career opportunities in the manufacturing industry. At Fori, these include skilled trades and engineering along with sales, estimators, finance, and project managers. He also told them about opportunities for skilled, motivated, creative team players to travel abroad, and earn average annual salaries of about $70,000. Fori provided hands-on experiences for the students including the opportunity to “drive” one of the company’s automated guided vehicles (AGV). These machines are used in Ford Motor’s transmission operations to safely move up to 20,000 pounds. Other machines can move up to 100,000 pounds.

This tour was an exciting chance for experiential learning for students from CSI, Utica’s award winning college and career academy. At CSI, students are immersed in an integrated academic and career technical education (CTE) culture that provides students with options and opportunities to explore three tracks – engineering, mechatronics, and multimedia starting in the 9th grade. Each year, 90 students are accepted for the competitive four-year program based on their interest and ability to pass entrance exams. Students spend part of their day in their own high schools and part at the CSI program. The current freshman class is made up of 40% female students, who are excited by the hands-on learning as well as the successes of past students.

Stacey King, a CSI algebra and geometry teacher says “the program provides students with knowledge and experience that prepares them for higher education and the workplace.” The program provides academic and practical knowledge as well as job shadowing experience in their chosen specialties. The vast majority of students go on to post-secondary education with many choosing to pursue engineering at Kettering University and Michigan Technological University, as well as other degrees at Lawrence Technological University, University of Michigan, and Michigan State University.

Students from Farmington-Harrison High School, Henry Ford Academy, and the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, attended an event at The Henry Ford in Dearborn. This was coordinated by the Detroit Economic Club. Many of the 150 students had never been to The Henry Ford and were able to spend time looking around the museum. Students learned about industry opportunities from representatives of General Motors, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Andra Rush, CEO of Rush Trucking Corporation and Detroit Manufacturing Systems LLC (DMS), told the students about what it’s like to work in manufacturing. DMS is one of the newest large manufacturing plants to be located in the City of Detroit and employs about 700 Detroiters. DMS also hosted about 300 students from Detroit and Wayne County schools at their facility.

Panelists spoke about their own career paths; innovation and technology in the manufacturing industry; opportunities for career advancement in manufacturing; and the importance of networking. They encouraged students to pursue internships, CTE programs, and let their creativity loose through programs such as FIRST, Michigan’s robotics competition.

The students I spoke to had different interests, but each felt that manufacturing was “worth looking into.” They were optimistic about their next steps. One young lady had wanted to be a vet for a long time but was open to other careers; another student was looking into pursuing a degree in business management or advertising. He will be interning with Quicken Loans this summer. One 11th grader was taking International Baccalaureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP) classes for a career in biology but was “not counting anything out.”

The broad range of interests and backgrounds among students considering manufacturing careers is a positive sign that the image of manufacturing is improving. As a result of partnerships between business, education, and government on events such as Manufacturing Day, the skills gap may start to close. Let’s hope Manufacturing Day 2017 will build on this year’s success and continue to excite and prepare students for successful careers.