Manufacturing Day

Last Friday, October 5, was national Manufacturing Day.  The “Day” is co-produced by Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Manufacturing Institute, and the Manufacturing Extension Service and was first announced at the end of June. Together with a number of sponsors and endorsers, nearly 200 facilities across the country signed on to host open houses and tours. The first Manufacturing Day was headed for a successful initial event!  Resources and guidelines for a successful event and an easy-to-fill-out form is all that is needed and can be found at www.mfgday.com.  Potential guests can quickly search an interactive map to find and sign up for tours or open houses in their area.   

Although Florida manufacturers and supporters seem to have gotten wind of this “movement” a bit late, we can still celebrate. Take the time and tell someone about the great careers in manufacturing.  Educators can “celebrate” with a lesson on manufacturing (see www.flate.pbwiki.com),  showing the “Made in Florida” video (www.madeinflorida.org/video), or reviewing pathways to great manufacturing careers with their students.  RMA’s can acknowledge the day on their websites with special notes to recent accomplishments by a member company.  Visit one of the Florida sites listed on www.mfgday.com by signing up for a tour.  However, we can all start planning now for 2013. FLATE will work with it partners to make Manufacturing Day 2013 in Florida a great day for manufacturers and all Floridians.

In Florida today, we have much to celebrate around manufacturing.  We are excited to report that FLATE has been refunded for another 3 years. Although this is great news, there is more good news for manufacturing education and workforce in Florida. 

Check out the article about new federal investments by the US Department of Labor and National Science Foundation – all supporting our Florida manufacturers with significant efforts planned to make concerted effort to better develop the talent, industry needs today.  With these investments, we have great opportunities not only to train for our immediate workforce needs; but also to continue to develop our manufacturing education and talent development pipeline. Working together for continuous improvement and sustainability through institutionalization, we not only meet the needs of these grants, but also build a strong, viable foundation for the future.  Together, we can move our manufacturing infrastructure forward to a new level.

Keep celebrating! This month’s FLATE Focus has articles about our updated Wiki site which houses many of our resources including teacher lesson plans, copies of FLATE presentations at various events and conferences, great resources for providing student tours to high-tech industries, and much more….. Don't miss out on this month's FLATE Focus.