Every October marks a celebration of Manufacturing Month to highlight the importance of manufacturing innovation across the United States.
Why we celebrate Manufacturing Month
Manufacturing Month honors the success of manufacturers and encourages students or those looking to change career paths to explore the evolving industry.
Thousands of businesses and schools participate in Manufacturing Month to recognize and promote the success of U.S. manufacturers in the global marketplace.
The first Friday of October kicks off Manufacturing Month with Manufacturing Day, an initiative of The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers. The first Manufacturing Day was held in 2012, with participation increasing throughout the U.S. year after year. Since Manufacturing Day has become such a success, it was decided that a whole month would be needed to spotlight all the industry has to offer.
The goal of Manufacturing Month is to celebrate the successes of U.S. manufacturers in the global marketplace, encourage U.S. manufacturers to pursue global market growth, and inspire the next generation to pursue careers in manufacturing.
How does Mastercam participate in Manufacturing Month?
Mastercam has welcomed students, teachers, and parents to their facility in Tolland, Connecticut on Manufacturing Day for 12 years now.
Attendees are shown how to start their careers in manufacturing. Students watch a “Design then Cut” demonstration that follows the process of designing a part within Mastercam, all the way to cutting the part with a CNC machine in the Mastercam Manufacturing Lab. While onsite, students can get a close-up look at the University of Connecticut’s Formula SAE car, an example of student-led design and engineering. In their downtime, they eat pizza, watch videos, and have a chance to interact with each other and members of the SAE team to ask any questions about the program.
Students leave our headquarters with a much better understanding of what manufacturing is. Manufacturing isn’t just being an Applications Engineer making parts on a machine. There are many other jobs that contribute to manufacturing such as Marketing, Technical Documentation, User Experience, and more.
Since one day is not enough to feature those in the Mastercam community who inspire the next generation, we are committed to highlighting stories like CNC Instructor Ron Sizer, and the program at Benjamin Franklin High School to celebrate Manufacturing Month.
How can you participate?
There is still plenty of time left in October to join Manufacturing Month, and it is never too early to start thinking about next year. Here are some creative ideas that you can do to get involved:
- Host a tour of your own manufacturing facility
- Plan a school event to teach students about manufacturing
- Organize a manufacturing jobs fair or career fair
- Welcome alumni back to your school to highlight their manufacturing careers
- Host a Webinar or live social media event for anyone interested in learning more about manufacturing
For more information on Manufacturing Month, visit The Manufacturing Institute | Workforce development and education affiliate of the NAM.
