Manufacturing Spotlight

View 2022 MFG DAY Photos
or
Watch the Highlights Video

2022 MFG DAY event–October 4th, 2022

The focus of MFG DAY is to highlight the diversity of career opportunities AND demonstrate manufacturing is a S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) based industry.

For the 7th time, TRMA/TREP and our education partner, Joliet Junior College, executed a MFG DAY event for local students.  In 2022, there were OVER 775 students from 11 area schools in attendance to engage with 150+ volunteers from industry.

• Opening Program: Erika Hendrickson, Site Manager for The Dow Chemical Company and the TRMA Chair
• Keynote: A’ric Jackson’s presentation, “Do Not Be Scared.”  A’ric explains how students should understand their knowledge, skills, and attributes. To embrace the positive opportunities available to achieve success personally and professionally.  He explains how tomorrow’s career goal is dependent upon the positive choices and actions you take today” and will invite students to explore success with a great career in manufacturing.
• Manufacturing Jeopardy: Students will compete in a fun, fast paced game of Manufacturing Jeopardy with an experienced panel to learn manufacturing facts from 5 categories: Career Areas, Environment, Education, Jobs, Safety.
• 3 Areas for Display Case: 2022 boasted 50displays from 48 manufacturers or related industry organizations and were planning for more.   Each hosted a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) based display to introduce students to careers or engage them in manufacturing.
• Social Media: Photo backdrops will be available to individualize the experience and posting will be made to social media throughout the day.

MFG DAY emerged from the desire to make a “louder voice” for our local manufacturers. Being a vital industry for the US, manufacturing has a lot to celebrate. In the last few decades, technology, innovation and automation have almost completely transformed the industry’s jobs by automating repetitive, mundane, or dangerous tasks. So, today’s manufacturing recruitment focuses on people who can imagine, adapt, troubleshoot and communicate and make decisions. This shift has and will continue to result in a demand for a more diverse and higher-level skillset for manufacturing’s workforce, and its related industries.

Did you know that 11.39% of the U.S. GDP – the overall output of the American economy – is from manufacturing and about 9% of the US Workforce is employed in manufacturing—that’s about 12.2 million people? The average manufacturing employee earns $29.15 per hour, and that wage does NOT include benefits. Moreover, since the Will/Grundy area is a major intersection for waterways, expressways, pipelines and railways, we have one of the largest chemical and petrochemical manufacturing clusters in the nation. Workers in this manufacturing specialty area have a strong science, math, technology foundation enabling higher skillsets, as such, are paid an even higher average wage rate.

Also, manufacturers’ investment in research and development represents more than two-thirds of the entire private sectors’ R&D investment. For manufacturing to remain strong, it needs high school students to consider careers in manufacturing and its related industries.