Photo provided Students explore career options at Manufacturing Day, sponsored through Toyota Material Handling, FORVIA Faurecia, Lindal and Cummins, Inc.
Local employers and educational institutions are teaming up for a two-day event to raise awareness about opportunities in modern manufacturing.
Manufacturing (MFG) Day is celebrated annually across North America on the first Friday each October. Columbus is having events over two days— one for families and the general public and another the next day for high school students to get an in-depth look at how local manufacturing companies operate, with the ability to obtain unique, hands-on experiences.
The MFG Day open house is set for Thursday at Toyota Material Handling’s (TMH) T+Rex Facility at 6125 Inwood Drive from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Participants will be able to take part in demonstrations from Ivy Tech and Purdue Polytechnic Institute, and also from sponsor companies including Cummins Inc., Enkei, Forvia, Lindal Group, Service My Restaurants, along with Toyota Material Handling. Registration is free and can be found at mfgdaycolumbusin.com.
Ivy Tech Community College will provide demonstrations on additive printing, robotics, welding, drone flight operations and advanced manufacturing machinery. Ivy Tech also organized virtual reality modules for career exploration.
On Friday, the second event will be at Toyota Material Handling from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and is reserved for students from six different high schools. Columbus North, Columbus East, Hauser, Scottsburg, Center Grove and Indiana Digital Learning School students will attend tours of the Cummins Midrange Engine Plant (CMEP), Cummins South, Toyota Material Handling and Lindal Group.
“Participants get a chance to see what is really taking place on many shop floors,” according to Columbus’ Manufacturing Day website. “This isn’t your grandparent’s manufacturing industry.”
Artificial intelligence, 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality will all be on display.
BCSC C4 Director Gene Hack said between 120 and 130 C4 students will take part in the event that offers students invaluable experience.
“They enjoy seeing the different aspects. Sometimes it’s the (manufacturing) trades, but sometimes it’s just the skills and the opportunities that they may not have had an idea were happening. You don’t know what you don’t know— so just being exposed to some things creates an opportunity for them to think of what their future looks like differently.”
One piece all involved want to dispel, Hack said, is the misconception people have that manufacturing is “low-skill, dirty, dangerous, (and) dark.”
“(Manufacturing) is not the Industrial Revolution kind of scenario that a lot of people have in their mind,” Hack said. “… It’s a highly skilled need.”
Hack gave kudos to other partners involved, including the local employers who work to organize the event.
“It’s something that’s really driven by our partners. That’s the nice thing about it, we’re a part of the planning team, but the manufacturer partners are the driving force of everything,” Hack said. “… We provide some opportunities and discussion about what activities to have with the students while they’re there, and they host the whole event.”
In terms of how C4 students’ MFG Day experience compares to what they learn in the classroom, Hack said “some things are really connected.”
C4 automatic and robotics students, for example, are currently learning the basics of programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which are used to control industrial equipment based on custom programming. “Almost everything’s run by PLCs” in the manufacturing world, according to Hack, so students come out of their C4 experience with a useful foundation.
“We’re doing more of the generalization and skill-building and then depending on which company a student may choose to go to, then they’ll learn those particulars,” he said.
Hack likes to think about it similarly to driving a car.
“You learn to drive, let’s say, maybe a Chevy. But you also know how to drive a Ford, you can drive a Prius, you also know how to drive a Cadillac,” Hack said. “You’ve got the basics down, now you just have to learn that particular car or model.”
