Have you ever wondered what happens inside manufacturing plants?
On October 7th, Mold Craft, Inc. (Willernie, MN) opened their doors to high school students from White Bear Lake and Stillwater High Schools. Manufacturing Day is a nationwide event where American manufacturing takes the opportunity to show that they are no longer dark, dirty and dangerous. Mold making facilities are clean, climate controlled, and utilize computerized equipment with robotics to design and build injection molds for medical device applications. “Mold Craft”, states Justin McPhee, VP of Design & Engineering “we wanted to tell our company story in a lively, understandable, engaging and memorable format so as to dispel outdated myths about manufacturing and inspire a new generation of students into high tech careers requiring a skilled workforce.” The format included presentations throughout Mold Craft where we had speakers, live demonstrations and tour guides explaining how Mold Craft designs & builds injection mold components to tolerances of ±.0001” (The thickness of one newspaper page divided by 30.)
“Manufacturing is the backbone of Minnesota’s economy.” According to the Department of Employment and Economic Development, the manufacturing industry impacts over 30% of Minnesota jobs. “We were excited to open our doors so students could see how we use science, technology, engineering and math in our everyday work,” shares Tim Bartz, President.
Students were provided with information to show them that the earning potential of a 2-year technical diploma can out pace that of an engineering degree because they enter the workforce 3 to 4 years sooner at very competitive wages and job placement is nearly 100% out of a technical school. It is always our goal to reach out to our community wherever possible showing what we do and how we do it giving our youth career options that perhaps were not previously considered.