Sophomore Manufacturing Day

On Friday, October 4th, Darke County Sophomores toured one of seven local manufacturers in recognition of National Manufacturing Day, an annual event created to demonstrate modern manufacturing and foster interest in manufacturing careers. Participating manufacturers included Whirlpool Corporation, Ramco Electric Motors, Midmark Corporation, Klockner Pentaplast, JAFE Decorating, Greenville Technology Incorporated, and FRAM. “Our host manufacturers were excited to share career opportunities available with their companies and connect with members of their future workforce,” said Tamala Marley, Darke County Economic Development Workforce Specialist. This is the sixth year that Darke County sophomores have been invited to tour local manufacturers on the first Friday of October. This event, coordinated by Darke County Economic Development, is part of a comprehensive effort to encourage and grow a skilled workforce to meet the current and future workforce demands of the region.

“We were pleased to have Congressman Warren Davidson participate in tours at JAFE Decorating, Greenville Technology Incorporated and Ramco Electric Motors and speak to students from Arcanum, Bradford and Greenville,” shared Marley. “Representative Susan Manchester also participated in a tour at Ramco with students from Mississinawa Valley High School.” Other guests for the tours included representatives from Edison State Community College and from Fastlane – University of Dayton Research Institute.

In addition to seeing modern manufacturing environments with state-of-the-art equipment and robotics, students also learned:

• About the wide range of careers available through manufacturing which require different levels of technical and formal education.
• Many manufacturers in the area will pay for college or technical training for their workforce if it corresponds to a position within the company.
• There are additional options after high school other than college or straight to work. Opportunities exist to work and make money while furthering their education, and avoid the debt often associated with college education.

Darke County Economic Development would like to thank our host manufacturers – Fram, GTI, JAFE, Klockner Pentaplast, Midmark, Ramco, and Whirlpool. We would also like to thank Darke County High Schools – Ansonia, Arcanum-Butler, Bradford, Franklin Monroe, Greenville, Mississinawa Valley, Tri-Village, and Versailles – for their participation in this event.