On October 5th, Astro Machine Works proudly celebrated the seventh annual National Manufacturing Day by welcoming high school students to participate in several days of tours and workshops at our facility.
Founded in 2012 by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), National Manufacturing Day takes place on the first Friday of every October and highlights the manufacturing industry’s contributions to our society. National Manufacturing Day also works to connect local manufacturers with peers in their communities and to educate younger people interested in careers in manufacturing, guiding the public’s view of the industry and highlighting the vital role it plays in our economy.
Since its inception, National Manufacturing Day has evolved to encompass over 2,900 nationwide events in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, attracting more than 600,000 participants in 2018. This year, the Astro Machine Works team opened our doors to local students interested in taking a real-world look at the inner workings of our industry.
AN OPEN HOUSE FOR STUDENTS
This year, we hosted 60 Welding, Tech Ed, and Metal 1 students from Warwick High School as well as 30 Precision Machining and Intro toAstro Employee giving a demonstration to students during National Manufacturing Day Manufacturing students from the Lancaster County Career & Technical Training Center for a series of workshops and events at our facility. We also welcomed six visitors from Lancaster’s Make 717 Innovation Center and 22 young women from the CV and SDL divisions of the Skilled Women Get STEM Jobs grants.
Over several days, our team guided students through a number of activities that included live demonstrations of our manufacturing processes. We showed students our CNC machining, fabrication, and welding processes and provided them with a firsthand look at how we build our custom machines. During the event, students engaged in one-on-one conversations with our team members to learn more about our equipment, processes, and anything that piqued their interest.
THE NEXT GENERATION OF MANUFACTURING
Astro Machine Works views National Manufacturing Day as an excellent opportunity to provide students from our community with a real manufacturing world experience. We also use it as an opportunity to promote inclusivity within our industry.
Since our first year of hosting National Manufacturing Day events, we’ve seen a notable increase of female attendees – particularly from the Skilled Women Get STEM Jobs initiative – participating in our factory tours. We are proud to promote gender equality in our workplace by partnering with this program through our demonstrations and workshops.
We welcomed our first female machinist to the team recently, and through open-door events such as our National Manufacturing Day activities, we hope to add many more.
CONTINUING OUR LEGACY
National Manufacturing Day 2018 was a fantastic opportunity for students in our community to interact with the Astro Machine Works team, and vice versa. We provided an in-depth look at our facility and gave them a great preview to a possible future career in manufacturing.
Astro Machine Works has provided custom machinery and precision parts to regional and national customers for over 30 years. To learn more about our work, services, or upcoming events, please contact us today.
Categories: National Manufacturing Day
Keyword: cnc turning