The first Friday of October is National Manufacturing Day. Darke County Economic Development celebrates this with Sophomore Manufacturing Day, where High School Sophomores from Darke County tour different Manufacturers in the area.
All eight school districts in Darke County participated, with more than 650 sophomore students getting to see the manufacturers in the area.
The students were able to see all parts of the manufacturing company. They asked questions and saw different areas of work they might be interested in. Some areas in the manufacturers the students toured had prepared demonstrations to show some of the different jobs available in greater detail.
“In addition to seeing the different demonstrations that the manufacturing companies allow and want the students to see, they’ll also get to know about other opportunities in the business,” Mike Bowers, Director of DCED, said. “Not necessarily just working on the floor but IT, accounting, engineering, robotics, communication, product design, distribution, logistics, and all the different areas that they have. It’s all a part of what the students will see within the day.”
The manufacturers that participated this year were Whirlpool, Superior Aluminum, Midmark, Jafe Decorating, Moriroku Technology North America (previously known as GTI), Klockner Pentaplast, Fort Recovery Industries, and Arch cutting tools.
“It gives kids a great opportunity to get a glimpse at what manufacturing is in Darke County,” Bowers said. “Even though we are highly agricultural based, we do have a very good mix of manufacturing, and we have some very good companies that come alongside and support our organization and the programs we do.”
This is an exciting program that shows these sophomores the different career opportunities at the different manufacturers here in Darke County.