Many wonder how young people today can be positively
influenced to pursue engineering careers
and fill the skills gap in
manufacturing. One local, small business is not waiting, but proactively
bringing middle school and high school students into their rotary broach
manufacturing facility to show them the careers that are available, and give
them early experiences in the industry. On Wednesday, January 7, 2015,
Polygon Solutions will present some of those students with awards from their
recent engineering competition.
In October 2014, Polygon Solutions and neighbor
Paver Motorcycles hosted a special Manufacturing Day event for students of Lee
Virtual School in Fort Myers, FL. Manufacturing Day is a growing grassroots
effort by North American manufacturers to introduce students to the new and
exciting jobs available in manufacturing. Lee Virtual School hosts an online
curriculum for Lee County students that enable them to work from home but still
benefit from the many services available locally through the county.
The Manufacturing Day event included a manufacturing
presentation, tour of the broach factory
and custom motorcycle shop, and
finally a manufacturing and engineering design contest. During the contest, the
students were encouraged to use what they had just learned about manufacturing,
and apply it the problem. This is the second year Polygon Solutions has hosted
the competition, and the third year they have participated in Manufacturing
Day. “There’s a tremendous amount of support for manufacturers right now,” says
Peter Bagwell, a product engineer at Polygon Solutions. “We usually think of
Southwest Florida for its tourism, but there are many manufacturers here. In
fact, the State of Florida is one of the biggest supporters of the national
Manufacturing Day event. Our local Southwest Regional Manufacturers Association
and innovative members like Paver Motorcycles are really interested in helping
students see that they can get good, high tech jobs without leaving the
region.”
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| LVIP Students at Paver Motorcycle on MFG DAY 2014 |
Polygon sponsors gift certificates as prizes for the
contest, and most students were given unique
pens during the event, which had
hidden USB sticks loaded with manufacturing videos and other content. “When I
was younger and involved with engineering and drafting contests in school, it
really made me think a lot about my career,” says Bagwell. “The Lee Virtual
School is an incredibly innovative venture and I’m really hoping that by
working together we can bring some of the same inspiration to local students.”
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| LVIP Students in the Shop onMFG DAY 2014 |
Polygon Solutions Inc. is also a contest winner this
past year. The innovative broach manufacturer won the first annual
Manufacturing Day Video Contest sponsored by the National Association of
Manufacturers, and plans to share the rights to an ‘American Made Movie’ it won
at the ‘Made In SWFL’ trade show March 25th, 2015 at Harborside
event center. Polygon credits partnership with various trade organizations for
helping it to reach the national spotlight and draw attention to manufacturing.
(Source of
Article: Polygon Solutions Inc. official press release)
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