This year Manufacturing Day will be Friday, October 4th, 2024. This is the day when manufacturers nationwide open their doors to the public for plant tours or participate in manufacturing expos to display their innovations.
It’s interesting to look at how this special day started. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) blog describes how it happened. In 2011, Dileep Thatte of NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) met with Ed Youdell, the new President & CEO of the Fabricators and Manufacturers’ Association at their office in Rockford, Illinois “to share how NIST MEP is focused on helping U.S. manufacturers incorporate innovation, new technologies, productivity and quality improvement techniques and develop their workforce.”
In the course of the meeting, they developed the idea of having a special day to have FMA members get involved with NIST MEP. Then, they decided it should have a broader scale and created Manufacturing Day. They decided to conduct a pilot event in the Midwest and planned the first Manufacturing Day for the first Friday of October 2012 to allow enough time for outreach and planning. The first year featured about 240 events and generated a great deal of enthusiasm among the people who participated.
“The idea was to allow the manufacturers to open their doors in any way they see fit to invite the community, their schools, their educators, the legislators, and others, so that they see what is modern manufacturing and the value of manufacturing for the community.”
The goal was to dispel the myth that manufacturing is “dumb, dangerous, and dirty” so parents, educators, and students “could see that modern manufacturing is different than the traditional image of manufacturing.” Modern manufacturing is “high tech,” involving computers, Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machines, robotics, automation, 3D printing, and other “cool” tools. “It’s about creativity, innovation, teamwork and technical skills.”
This reason this is important is that there is a significant shortage of skilled workers in the U.S. and the gap is expected to widen even more unless more youth start entering the manufacturing workforce. According to a 2021 study “by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, the manufacturing skills gap in the U.S. could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030.” We must address this workforce gap by changing the perception of manufacturing jobs, and Manufacturing Day is one of the best ways to change this perception.
By 2014, other national organizations such as the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and SME had jumped on the bandwagon to promote Manufacturing Day. In San Diego where I lived, the four major chambers, the Greater San Diego Regional Chamber, the East County Chamber, North County Chamber, and South County Chamber, all had events that day ranging from a breakfast with speakers from the manufacturing industry to expos where manufacturers exhibited their products. Manufacturers all over the county opened their doors to visitors and gave tours. Attended the breakfast put on by the Greater San Diego Regional Chamber and then went on three of the 25 tours scheduled in San Diego County. The producers of Manufacturing Day 2014 bragged that “This year’s Manufacturing Day set another record with almost twice as many events as last year. The final count was over 1,650 events in all 50 U.S. states, three Canadian provinces, and Puerto Rico.”
The NIST blog article, states “In 2016, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), an organization with membership in excess of 14,000 manufacturers, began leading the Manufacturing Day initiative. NAM, through their workforce development and education partner, The Manufacturing Institute, has done a magnificent job of supporting this initiative.
We moved to Riverside County in the fall of 2018, and on Manufacturing Day, I began my day by attending the special event in Menifee at Mt. San Jacinto College to introduce their new Makerspace to students. The auditorium was nearly filled with students form Santa Rosa Academy where a panel of business professionals and professors shared the value of their education to their careers. The event was sponsored by the City of Menifee, the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce, and CMTC. The audience was welcomed by Major Bill Zimmerman and Tony LoPiccolo, Executive Director of the Chamber. Fortunately, I was able to get a private tour of the MakerSpace by Hal Edghill, the MakerSpace specialist, before the students had finished listening to the panelists. I only had time to visit two companies because they were located so far apart and held in the same time period between 10 AM and 2 PM.
In 2019, I attended the first Made in America trade show that was held October 3-6th in Indianapolis, IN. The event began during Manufacturing Week declared by President Trump and the show opened to the public on the national Manufacturing Day. The NIST blog states, “In 2019, more than 325,000 students, teachers, and parents participated in MFG Day which consisted of more than 3,000 events held across all 50 states and Puerto Rico.”
Unfortunately, the COVID Pandemic lockdowns of 2020 curtailed the in-person special events and plant visits, but MFG Day 2020 because a virtual day, celebrated online instead of in person. “Even amid the pandemic, there was a widespread outpouring of support for manufacturing, including from many policymakers.”
The NAM website states, “The White House issued a proclamation on Thursday night designating Oct. 2 as National Manufacturing Day, while at least 28 governors and leading members of Congress marked the occasion by proclamation or on social media.”
MFG Day 2021 was October 1st, and “manufacturers throughout the nation hosted open houses, factory tours and job fairs—both on site and online—to introduce young people and others to the promise of modern manufacturing. And many companies and leaders took to social media to show their support and love for the industry.
Besides the proclamation of President Biden, at least 15 states issued their own Manufacturing Day proclamations, and more than 40 congressional representatives publicly marked the occasion.
MFG Day 2022 and 2023 resumed having more emphasis on in-person events, plant tours, and expos. Over 14,000 manufacturers across America now participate in country-wide celebrations
In June 2023, the Manufacturing Institute of NAM hosted a webinar, “Making the Most of Your Event,” featuring “seasoned MFG Day hosts sharing about their own events, best planning tips, lessons learned, ideas for school and community events. The purpose of the webinar was to “share tips, insights and resources for companies interested in putting on their own MFG Day events.” The webinar is available to watch here on YouTube for companies and organizations interested in hosting an event or plant tour for 2024.
In the article about the webinar, MI Director of Student Engagement Jen White, said, “Being involved with MFG Day, hosting events, using the branding that’s available on the website, registering your events on MFGday.com and all of our resources and toolkits are 100% free to you,” said White. “You do not have to be an MFG Day sponsor. You do not have to be an NAM member. It is 100% free for you to use. We want as many companies and partners of manufacturers involved in MFG Day as possible.”
I highly encourage you to sign up to be involved in Manufacturing by sponsoring an event, opening up your company for a plant tour, or attending an event or plant tours in your area at this website. I certainly plan to attend as many plant tours as are logistically possible in my region of Riverside County, California.