Manufacturing Day Youngstown Grows Again!

Posted by Hudson Fasteners, Inc. on 11th Oct 2017

Manufacturing Day℠ is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers. Manufacturing Day is modern manufacturing’s biggest stage. Manufacturing Day occurs on the first Friday in October — this year it occurred on Oct 6, 2017. Each year more than 3,000 schools and manufacturers will open their doors and unveil the opportunities that lie beyond them to more than 600,000 parents, students, educators and other interested individuals to showcase modern manufacturing. Help manufacturing build the next generation talent pipeline, host an event next year.

Since 2013 Hudson Fasteners, a Youngstown Incubator Portfolio company has organized and promoted the Manufacturing Day event in Youngstown, OH. Hudson Fasteners (1 Industrial Way) has been an endorser of Manufacturing Day since the inception of the movement. Hudson Fasteners a brick-n-mortar industrial distributor that moved their business from New York to Youngstown to develop their newly patented e-Commerce technology saw the movement as a way to connect to a much larger audience. Their passion for digital marketing and social media has kept them ahead of the digital curve. CEO Lisa J. Kleinhandler claims that Manufacturing Day is one of her favorite days of the year. When asked why she explained that this day is the result of an idea that was intended to reach many by changing perceptions about careers in manufacturing. Manufacturing Day is a day that brings together Manufacturers, Local Businesses, Educational, Government, Technology, and the media to open minds about manufacturing careers.

There were more than 2776 events across our nation. President Trump signed the National Manufacturing day Proclamation in the Oval Office! This movement is a BIG deal! It works for everyone.

Last year more than 300 people attended MFG Day Youngstown events throughout the city. With the incredible support from the City of Youngstown, America Makes, Youngstown Business Incubator, Youngstown State University, the Mahoning Valley manufacturing community, local businesses and organizations all have contributed to helping the event grow in participation year after year. Manufacturing Day highlights all the greatness that lives and thrives in this area every day.

During a MFG Day 2017 Youngstown event planning meeting we discovered that with commitments we had received from the local schools and manufacturing community the event had grown and the need for a larger venue was needed...fast! Youngstown State University stepped up and hosted the most successful Manufacturing Day Youngstown event to date.

This year Manufacturing Day Youngstown hosted 500 participants, including: 300+ K-12 students, 30 volunteers from YSU consisting of Students, Staff, Faculty, Alumni, 18 industry organizations providing industry showcase displays and nearly 50 other volunteers.

Photo Credit: America Makes

The day began at the Williamson College of Business Auditorium with welcome by Dr. Darrell Wallace, STEM College, President Jim Tressell, Provost Abraham and the introduction to Manufacturing Day by Cris Young, EVP of Hudson Fasteners, Inc. As tradition has it the day officially begins with Cris' speech and introduction of the Mayor for the Manufacturing Day Proclamation reading. After the first proclamation was read keynote speaker Mitchell Joseph, CEO and Founder of Chill Can talked to the audience about the history of manufacturing in Youngstown. Mr. Mitchell has a long family history in the City of Youngstown; his family owned the Start Bottling Co. in the 1940's. He grew up in the area and has now returned to develop the original site of the family business with his state of the art manufacturing & R & D center. Students learned about the skills that Mr. Joseph's company will be looking for in future hires needed in their 9 building complex.

The day got off to an incredible start with all of the speakers! Then we were honored by all of the Official Proclamation readings from:

o Proclamation: Youngstown Mayor John McNally
o Proclamation: Congressman Tim Ryan - represented by staffer Catey Breck
o Proclamation: Congressman Bill Johnson - represented by staffer Paul Mitchell
o Proclamation: Governor John Kasich - represented by Susan Fotlz, Director of the Ohio Manufacturing Extension Partnership
o Proclamation: Treasurer of State Josh Mandel – represented by staffer Eric Synenberg

Photo Credit: America Makes

Then the day got underway at the Industry Showcase. Students were able to speak with organizations and companies such as: Arconic, GE Additive, Goodyear, Vallourec, ExOne, America Makes and other local manufacturers including 3D Printing companies. Students participated in several events throughout the day including: Introduction: 3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing workshop, STEM College tours at YSU Launch Lab, CNC Machining and Ballistics Lab, Robotics and Automation Lab, Center for Innovation in Additive Manufacturing, Bliss Hall Foundry, and the Museum of Labor and Industry.

Youngstown State University STEM College also sponsored a 3D Design Competition for students in two categories, K-12 and university students. The winners had great ideas for products and will be working to develop their ideas with local resources. The first place winners each received a 3D Printer, and each runner up took home a 3D Pen.

Please join the YSU Manufacturing Engineering Facebook Group for updates about this and future events!

Thank you to the Manufacturing Day Youngstown committee for all their hard work leading up to the event. Thank you to Youngstown State University for hosting the Manufacturing Day event, special thanks to President Tressel, Provost Abraham, Dean Steelant, Dean Licata, Dr. Darrell Wallace, and the YSU staff and students that worked to make the day a great success. We also want to thank the City of Youngstown, America Makes, Youngstown Business Incubator, and all the businesses that participated in the Industry Showcase.

For the third year, Deloitte has created a post-event survey that Manufacturing Day Hosts can use to assess the impact of their events with attendees — and on the public perception of manufacturing more generally. As in years past, Deloitte will compile results, provide analysis of the survey responses, and share the information in a manufacturing day infographic that will be published to mfgday.com.

To access the survey, Hosts should log in to their Host Dashboard. There, under the sub-head “Visitor Survey,” is a link labeled “Go to Survey.” Host can simply distribute this link to any event attendees they want to participate in the survey. As a web application, the survey can be conducted on any smartphone, tablet, or computer.