Manufacturing Day to become more than just a day, as companies seek talent

The Dayton Region Manufacturing Association is changing its approach to the day this year, DRMA President Angelia Erbaugh said Wednesday.

Fewer companies are participating, but more will open their doors on other days, she said.

Seventeen local companies are open to school tours, mostly Friday, a few on other days in October, Erbaugh said. As of Wednesday, 21 schools were planning field trips.

The idea behind the change: Let students visit manufactrers any time it’s convenient for schools and companies.

Erbaugh said she’s working on a reporting mechanism to track visits.

“What we’ve learned over the years is, that for a lot of companies, that first Friday in October just doesn’t work, or it doesn’t work for the schools,” Erbaugh said.

“The real crux of it, of course, is getting students inside manufacturing companies so they can see what contemporary manufacturing is all about,” she added.

Today, industry advocates point to companies like Intel and GE Aerospace as examples of what manfucturing is now — companies on the cutting edge of new materials and processes, offering higher paying jobs and solid careers.

In the last pre-pandemic Manufacturing Day, in October 2019, some 275,000 people participated in about 3,000 “MFG Day” events across North America. Some 50 Dayton employers participated that year, along with nearly 220 Ohio companies.

Dayton companies were early supporters, taking the concept and running with it.

In the first national Manufacturing Day observed in Dayton, in 2012, there were 10 company open houses attended by 150 students — which Erbaugh once called “a small first go.”

It got bigger quickly.

By 2017, the Dayton area had 64 open houses attended by more than 3,600 area students from 60 schools and 10 home-school groups.

The principle hasn’t changed, however.

“The only obstacle threatening our manufacturing growth is a lack of available talent,” Ryan Augsberger, president of the Ohio Manufacturing Association, wrote in the Dayton Daily News this week.

Ohio is the nation’s third-largest manufacturing state in terms of jobs and payroll, and Ohio manufacturers just set a record of $134 billion in annual economic output, he wrote.

Companies like Intel, Honda/LG Energy Solutions, Semcorp and Joby Aviation are changing not just how manufacturing is done, but how it’s perceived by students and parents, industry advocates say.

“It’s always about workforce,” she said.