Gary Hauger (foreground) and Thomas Watts weld mounting plates onto convertible jack outer tubes in Rieco-Titan’s busy manufacturing plant.The Goshen News reports on Manufacturing Day, Oct. 6, an annual nationwide event meant to draw attention to possible careers in manufacturing for young people.
Goshen (Indiana) Jr. High schoolers explored potential futures in Elkhart County Thursday.
Manufacturing Day is a national program designed to introduce students to careers within manufacturing. Eighth graders at Goshen Jr. High know to expect the trip each year.
“It’s really just to expose them to that kind of thing, to just put it in front of them and show them what’s local,” said Viewrail Training & Development Specialist Kyle Hembree.
A former teacher, Hembree was part of the Horizon Education Alliance committee that originally started the local Manufacturing Day program years ago.
“The idea really, when it was designed, was to show kids in the area that there’s more than just RVs,” he said. “More than just the RV factories, there’s all kinds of stuff that goes on. It’s to show them that there are hands-on jobs, there are engineering jobs and not everybody has to be a college-bound student. We need welders. We need fabricators. We need all that type of stuff.”
“One thing that I think Viewrail does really well is if you have a skill and you need a job, that’s all that matters,” he said. “A lot of our project engineers are not engineers by trade. They did not go to school to be engineers. It’s something we have trained them to do.”
Click here to read the full story from Dani Messick in the Goshen News.
