Manufacturers will need to fill 4 million high-skill, high-tech and high-paying jobs over the next decade
How will you attract new workers to meet demand? A good place to start is by participating in Manufacturing Day (MFG Day). Being held this year on October 7, 2022, MFG Day is hosted annually on the first Friday in October by the Manufacturing Institute, the 501(c)3 nonprofit workforce development and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
MFG Day helps shine a spotlight on modern manufacturing careers by encouraging companies to open their doors to students, parents and teachers to give them a real-life view of what their company does, and the manufacturing career paths available.
By hosting this show-and-tell for our future workforce, MFG Day participants can inspire the next generation and positively shift perceptions about careers in manufacturing.
How You Can Participate
If you want to host an event at your plant or facility, here’s what you need to do:
1. Determine what type of event you want to host
An easy way to start is to host a tour of your facility in action.
- Designate an employee or employees to map out the tour, focusing on the areas that will be most interesting to young people and that best showcase your company and processes.
- Have the employee(s) draft a script to use during the tour. Consider making a game of it to increase engagement, have students complete some trivia questions based on what they’re learning along the way, or play manufacturing plant BINGO based on the areas they’ll see on the tour. Give prizes or giveaways branded with your company logo.
2. Register your event with the Manufacturing Institute at mfgday.com
Registered events receive the following benefits:
- MFG Day landing page that you are able to share
- Inclusion in a searchable MFG Day event list
- Increased awareness and ability to show leaders and elected officials everything that is happening in their community
- Access to NAM’s resources for promoting your event.
To be recognized as an official MFG Day event, your event must meet these two criteria:
- Your event must be one of the following activities: a tour of a manufacturing facility, office, innovation center or other site; OR other creative student-invite type of event at a manufacturing or manufacturing-supporting site (e.g., design office, software company); OR school event about manufacturing; OR manufacturing-related jobs fair; OR manufacturing-related career day event.
- Your event must be open to students, parents and/or educators.
You do not need to be a member of NAM to participate – all manufacturers are welcome.
3. Let NGA help share your story
Let us know when and where you are holding a MFG Day event and NGA will provide coverage of your event in our media. PLUS:
- Whenever possible, NGA will send a staff person to participate in your event.
- NGA will help connect you with your Representatives and Senators to invite them to your event.
Don’t wait – get a jump on filling your future manufacturing jobs now. Contact Michele Nosko, NGA senior director of association operations, with questions or to let NGA know about your event.