One of our favorite times of the year is just around the corner: the official Manufacturing Day is booked for Friday, October 1, 2021! It’s a day when schools, companies and workforce development leaders, and families across North America come together to celebrate the incredible careers and technology in the world of advanced manufacturing. The goal is to inspire the next generation of manufacturers by providing live and virtual tours of manufacturing companies and showcasing the career opportunities in this fast-paced industry.
PMA has partnered with Edge Factor to empower companies, schools and organizations across the United States to tackle workforce development. Together, we are providing two free toolkits, filled with high-impact media that showcases manufacturing stories, careers, technology and soft skills.
Since 2015, Edge Factor has empowered more than 5,500 Rock MFG Day event hosts with turnkey tools and high-impact resources to engage live and virtual audiences. This year is no different! The team at Edge Factor is launching the 2021 Rock MFG DAY Kit to equip companies, associations, workforce development leaders, manufacturing training programs and schools with multimedia tools to complement and enhance their MFG DAY events!
Edge Factor has created thousands of cinematic stories, videos, lesson plans, interactive activities, planning guides, virtual reality experiences, toolkits and more, that are used in classrooms, homes and at events to help students and job seekers discover careers and prepare to enter the workforce. The online Rock MFG DAY Kit tools will showcase engaging e-learning media and real-life stories of manufacturers pushing back the edge of what’s possible. This collection of high-impact media will inspire students and job seekers to pursue manufacturing careers and learn what a “day in the life” looks like in specific manufacturing roles!
The 2021 Rock MFG DAY Kit will be available completely for free for everyone to watch, enjoy and share from September 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021. The toolkit will include:
- An inspiring 15- to 20-minute keynote presentation by Jeremy Bout, Founder of Edge Factor and formerly a 5 Axis Programmer.
- “5 Days of STEAM” media including award-winning films; career profiles; walk and talk field trips/tours of manufacturing companies called Virtual Workplace Experiences; short videos that highlight how Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math topics are used in manufacturing; and soft skills videos.
- “How To” planning guides with step-by-step instructions on why and how to host an engaging event, and how to invite schools and companies to present on careers and training opportunities available in your community.
- Promotional tools to share the Rock MFG DAY Kit with your network and community.
We understand that hosting an event is not easy! Planning and promoting your upcoming event, hosting a high-impact stage or keynote presentation, taking students on a tour and trying to plan the logistics—it can become a bit overwhelming, especially for manufacturers who are not typically involved with event planning. That’s why we’ve created the FREE Rock MFG DAY Kit, and included everything you need to plan, promote, host and follow up on your virtual or live MFG DAY event. It’s plug and play—which means you can use parts or all of the toolkit on each of the days, or all of the days! To register for the Rock MFG DAY toolkit, visit here.
“Manufacturing Day presents an opportunity for companies to showcase what manufacturing is and what goes into making the things that we use every day. We strive to support our mission and members by endorsing programs that create exposure to and generate interest in manufacturing careers,” said PMA Educational Foundation Executive Director Nichol Lopriore.
In addition to PMA, the following industry and education leaders have partnered with Edge Factor to make the Rock MFG DAY Kit freely available: ABB, California Arts, Media & Entertainment, NTMA/ AMPED, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), Mastercam, myBlueprint, National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC), National Institute of Metalworking Skills (NIMS), SME Education Foundation, and Women in Manufacturing. These leaders are committed to helping manufacturing companies, schools and workforce leaders with tangible, easy-to-use and share tools to host an awesome live or virtual MFG DAY event and recruit the next generation of innovators and manufacturers.
To learn more about Edge Factor’s Rock MFG Day Kit, register for our webinar next week on how to use the tools and media in the kit at your MFG Day event. Register here.