Approximately 150 local area high school students and teachers attended the Manufacturing Day event hosted at Architectural Woodworking Company (AWC) near Los Angeles (CA) on Friday, October 7. Manufacturing Day is a national campaign to promote careers in manufacturing and increase awareness of the realities of the manufacturing industry by encouraging companies to offer tours and open houses. Over 2,400 events were hosted by companies across the United States, primarily on October 7, which is deemed the “official” Manufacturing Day. The event at AWC featured a mini woodworking “expo”, with local representatives from twelve different brands or companies exhibiting their products or services including: ARC Document Services, AWFS (also promoting SkillsUSA), Colonial Saw, ESI (Edgebanding Services, Inc), Hafele, Ideal Drawer, Kemp Hardware, Local 721 Carpenter’s Union, One Source Distributors (3M products), Royal Plywood, Salice, and Sherwin Williams. The students who attended were from a local career tech center, an engineering academy, and woodworking programs. The students were given a presentation about careers in manufacturing, followed by a tour of AWC’s 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility, and an opportunity to network with the exhibitors. AWC also provided a complimentary lunch for all attendees. “We were honored to host this event and we hope this will inspire other wood manufacturing companies to participate next year,” says AWC Vice President of Manufacturing Saul Martin. “It’s important for us to connect with local schools and educate students about career opportunities in our industry.” Over thirty wood products manufacturing related companies hosted events across the country, including AWFS member companies such as Mastercam, RB Tool, Sherwin Williams, Graco, Leggett & Platt, and multiple cabinetmaking, furniture and millwork firms. Thank you to all companies who participated; if you would like to learn more, go to www.MFGDay.com.
To see pictures from the AWC MFG Day event: https://goo.gl/photos/m7akYceSaMCYZv9t5
To learn more about the AWC MFG Day event: http://www.awfs.org/education/manufacturing-day-2016-awc/