Second Annual MFG Day Promotes Manufacturing to Public

The second annual Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) was observed October 4, in 48 of the United States as well as Puerto Rico and Canada with more than 830 individual celebrations. These numbers are up from the inaugural event held in 2012, which consisted of just over 240 events across 37 states. Attendees took part in open houses, tours, film showings and other activities as part of the event, which is co-produced by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International (FMA), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and The Manufacturing Institute and National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).

The MFG Day initiative is intended to address common misperceptions about manufacturing by giving students, parents, teachers, government representatives and members of the general public a chance to see what today’s manufacturing looks like. The initiative is designed to help manufacturers connect with future generations while promoting a positive public image of manufacturing, which in turn is expected to help close the skills gap in the industry.

Individual events were hosted and sponsored by educational institutes, manufacturers, job shops and industry organizations, including the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) and National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). In some cases, events were co-hosted by two or more partners. For instance, Hurco hosted a grand opening of its Hurco CNC Technology Center at the Lincoln College of Technology in Indianapolis, Indiana, which included machining demonstrations and tours of the facility and campus.

Events were well-attended, and preliminary estimates from the MEP place attendance in the tens of thousands. The next edition of MFG Day is scheduled for October 3, 2014.

Manufacturing Day, visit mfgday.com.