 Good afternoon everyone. I'm Kate Furianti and I would like to welcome you to PMI's webinar series Bridging the Skills Gap. These webinars focus on ways your company can address the skills gap. Today's topic is Manufacturing Day and our guest speaker is Brian Armanic from RPAC. So thanks for joining us. Hi, good to be here. Thanks Kate. Thanks Brian. So let's go ahead and discuss what Manufacturing Day is. Manufacturing Day is an opportunity for manufacturers to open their doors and show their local community what manufacturing is, addressing common misperceptions. This is a chance for you to show your community what you do, highlight the economic importance of manufacturing, and draw attention to rewarding manufacturing careers. This is your chance to dispel outdated myths about manufacturing, inspire a new generation of manufacturers, connect with potential customers in your community, learn about manufacturing extension partnerships that can improve your efficiencies and workforce skills and boost your profits, visit other manufacturers to initiate business relationships, and also learn what's being made in your community. Studies show that students who attended Manufacturing Day events were 84% more convinced that manufacturing provides careers that are interesting and rewarding, and 71% more likely to tell friends, family, parents, or colleagues about manufacturing after attending the event. However, Manufacturing Day is not just for students. And when promoting, you should reach out to your community at large, including parents, educators, media, customer, and suppliers. So when is Manufacturing Day? Manufacturing Day is typically held the first Friday in October. So for 2019, that would be October 4th. But we all have crazy schedules, and sometimes it can't happen. So definitely any day in October would work. So now I'm going to pass it over to Brian. He has been working with Arpax Manufacturing Days for the last few years. So I'm going to pass it over to him to go over his best practices and experiences. Good. Thank you, Kate, and thank you, everyone, for joining. I'm an application engineer at Arpax. We build packaging machines, and we're a proud PM&I member. I first heard about Manufacturing Day a couple of years ago. I got involved with different schools and community events, mostly around kids that are middle school to high school interested in STEM classes that could lead them to careers in manufacturing, packaging, and engineering. So the slide here is how to get involved in Manufacturing Day. It's really pretty easy. I basically signed up, made sure it was okay with my company, and host the event myself. I keep it pretty simple. You're flexible in what you actually want to do. What I decided was to just sign up one hour time slots so people can visit for one hour with a group. And that's about it. I show them the equipment we're building, and give them a quick tour. So that's the basics, I would say. You can get more elaborate with slide shows, movies, video segments, and there's a lot of resources on the ManufacturingDay.com website for those reasons. So I would say in order to get involved, you go to ManufacturingDay.com. That's MSG for short. And just sign up your company for the event. You create a profile with, I would say, recommend a warm welcome message. People are reading your message and about your company versus others that they might choose. So make it personal and make it interesting. I'd also recommend telling people what to expect and who will host the event. I talk about the machines that we build, and where we're located, and myself as the host I let them know who I am and what they would see when they come to visit. Automated machines, everyone knows robots, that's a good draw, and any other descriptions of the type of machines and the type of people too. Engineers, programmers, machinists, assemblers, electricians, cover the different careers. Always think about the technology that they would see because hopefully that's what they're interested in if they're on the page considering a visit. And then also the careers. It really is mostly young people that are in school, whether it's middle school, high school, or trade school, usually leading up to college to figure out what kind of classes or career path that they want. And last I would say describe what your company does in a way that inspires curiosity and excitement. Don't be bland. Do the unexpected. Really make it interesting for them and something that's kind of exciting. Think about your audience. It's young kids trying to get inspired. Once your profile is posted, people can find your events by using a search feature on the website, just a button. They could look for a location. It's currently in the U.S. and Canada listed, so they say it's North America. But you generally drill down into the state and you could enter the city or just look for the whole state. You could look for the whole country if you want to have a really big travel day. As people register, you'll get an email as the host. And it will have a description of the group and a contact person. So that's your opportunity to see who wants to visit and you can send an email back or give a phone call if you want to find out who it is and maybe you just want students and you don't want other people. That's entirely up to you. Like I said, I think you have different options. I set up time slots of one hour and then you do have the ability to limit the size of the group too. I think I do up to 10. That's about how many I could handle myself. It could be more or less. So they give you a couple of controls for that day. Certainly when I'm on the floor, there's a lot of people that are working on the machines or designing and they're always really helpful to talk into the group that comes by. But it's pretty easy. I sign up myself to make sure it's okay with those in my company and they know what the day is and more volunteers we get or whatever volunteers we get. I just take time to meet them at the front and give them a tour of our company. Let's see, the first manufacturing day was in October 2014 at ARPAC. That's the first one that I hosted. I've been doing them ever since. That's what during the profile or when people register, they could see the map of what's located and the date and times. Then they could register for a time slot that's available to visit on that day. This also shows the map was on the first page and it didn't all fit on one slide. So this is a description of ARPAC and what we do, what people will see, what I described. Try to make it interesting and paint the picture of what they'll expect to see. There's also photos and that's a good way for people to see what the factory looks like, see what the building looks like. I threw in a couple of drawing photos, samples of design and what I do. But it's really up to you and it's whatever you would want that would invite people and interest them to visit. I think the big reason here, the whole purpose of doing it is to make a difference, to make an impact on our industry as well as manufacturing in general. My biggest belief is organization people are the most valuable asset. So it's really the people that make the company, that make the organization, that make our industry. This is what the event is about. It's about attracting and inviting people to join the ranks and contribute to the packaging and processing industry. I think most would agree that one of the biggest challenges facing any company today is finding and keeping good talents. Manufacturing days and open house events were thousands of companies across the continents and schools too. I'll say that as well. It's not just companies that open their doors. Schools are also part of that too. They usually show the labs or the classrooms or the STEM activities that the kids do. So that's also included. And last year there was a pretty good turnout. 275,000 people were registered and participated in nearly 3,000 events in Manufacturing Day. To be quite honest we've only had a modest turnout I would say. A couple of years I'll have two or three groups. Last year there was no groups from the public but there were a couple of people that I knew, one that I worked with and one that was a very good friend where their kids are growing up and they asked me if they could bring their son and daughter by because they were considering careers in engineering or technology. I hope to get more groups but it's good to inspire anybody who takes the time out of their day to come to visit. So Manufacturing Day is produced by the National Association of Manufacturers at STEM that's a well-organized group. Manufacturing Day creates an opportunity for people to learn about modern manufacturing careers and Manufacturing Day shows students how to translate STEM skills that science, technology, engineering, and math. The STEM skills that they're learning in the classroom into fulfilling career opportunities in a growing industry. Side note there, STEM is really growing and that's great. Also STEAM, the A, adds the arts to it and there's Project Lead the Way is a government and a school initiative. So probably a lot of you have seen Lego challenges and robotics challenges and that is growing. First Robotics is another one. It's really a great way for kids to get interested in use technology that's available today and that's easy to use. The apps, the software, the building blocks and these kits, you know, you get Legos with motors and sensors. It's great to see that momentum. And Manufacturing Day is just what it says. That's from the website. It's translating the skills that they learn in the classroom so they can visualize what they can do for a living. And it's great when they come through our pack and they see especially a lot of kids that aren't too much older than them working on laptops and controlling these giant machines and robots. And I think that it really inspires a lot. In fact, the biggest thing that most people say when it's all done if they've got big smiles and enjoyed their visit is, wow, I had no idea. All of that was this cool. I hope to be doing this someday. Manufacturers are able to address the skill labor shortage that they face. That's why we're doing it and what people do it. That participates. It allows them to connect with future generations and take charge of the public image of manufacturing. You know, in the old days it was the 3Ds, dirty, dull, and dangerous. Those of you that work in PMMI companies know that that's a thing of the past. We've got great careers that are in bright facilities that are modern and a lot of collaboration and a lot of technology being used. And this also ensures the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry. So a lot of these points were from the Manufacturing Day website that I thought I would share. It's not really that old. Every year it grows. And the first Manufacturing Day was in 2012. So this year will be the 7th year. Okay, next, this was interesting. They also had some top facts. I took the top three that I thought were most interesting and the web link is from their website. Taken alone, manufacturing in the United States would be the 9th largest economy in the world. So these are stats about manufacturing in general in the industry. The nation with the higher gross domestic product in 2017, who produced more than just manufacturing was the United States, China, Japan, Germany, India, the UK, and France. But besides that, manufacturing alone produced more than all the other countries in the world. I thought that was pretty interesting. In 2018, manufacturing accounted for 11.4% of the GDP in the economy. And I think that's surprising. Most people just don't realize what manufacturing contributes to the economy. And for every manufacturing job there's 3, 4, 5 depending on the metrics of other jobs that are created to support that. And a big thing about manufacturing is people drive by all these buildings on their way to work or on their way to somewhere else and they don't get the chance to see what's inside or how things are made. And that's my biggest thing that I enjoy is how things are made. Most people go to the store and they pick out something from the shelf and they just don't have the privilege to see what goes into making the parts, designing the parts, assembling them, quality control all the manufacturing, the packaging, distribution, logistics, material handling, everything it takes to get it onto that shelf where they just pick it up and put it into their cart. So this is a great way to show them how things are made and also hopefully inspire some young kids to find a career in manufacturing. The last point I thought was interesting was there's for every $1 spent in manufacturing, like I said, there's other jobs that are created. There's another $1.82 added to the economy and that's the highest multiplying effect in any other economic sector. So a lot of things are tied to manufacturing and making things. Oh, I did have a couple more. For every one worker, there's the three or four employees that are also hired. Manufacturing, I thought this was interesting, manufacturing consumes more than 30% of the nation's energy. That's interesting, but it also shows the power of manufacturing. Yeah, it consumes a lot of energy, but manufacturing is always about making something better. And we take raw materials and energy and turn them into products that people use and make their lives more convenient. In 2016, there were 2,500 firms in the manufacturing sector. This is interesting. Most of them are small and medium size. So over that 250,000, 245 are considered to be small businesses, fewer than 500 employees. And in fact, 3 quarters or 184,000 of those were fewer than 20 employees. So it really shows that manufacturing is small and medium size family businesses, community businesses. And that's what I like about manufacturing day. Everyone has a chance to open up the doors and pitch in. It really is about kind of showing back to the community and giving them this unique experience once a year. A couple of photos and some more slides on the actual events. This was some day, I hope there's a bus with this many people coming to RPAC, but actually this was a PMMI. RPAC hosted an annual meeting a couple of years back. And that's what the front looks like. We've had small groups and I hope someday we get a group pouring in our front door just like that for manufacturing day. But that is a photo that I put on the website so people could see what the building looks like and what to expect during that day. You know, besides the manufacturing day itself, I've also had a couple of visits from different school groups who I've gotten connected with through PMMI and some of their education initiatives. And there's a school group on the left with a big robot that's me in the middle and the white shirt. And then on the right is one of our engineers, David Gramley, hosting and talking to the school group about the manufacturing engineering aspect of it and the mechanical design that he does as he leads the team through designing the machine that we work on. A couple of points about what inspired me. You know, really the big picture here is I felt like I got lucky to find what I do. It's interesting. It really excites me to work on a design and then if we get to build it to see how it's designed, see if it's this way I thought it would be or if the project team came up with something that was smarter, better, more interesting, and see a whole bunch of people work on assembling, wiring, programming, and then testing and getting these machines up and running in our customers. So our customers, we just build the machines. They need the machines to do some high volume production and they run them with their product in their factories. So we are designers and builders of the machines which is referred to as an OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer. A couple of points here. So many people don't like their jobs and I guess you're lucky if you find one that does inspire you and you enjoy. I mentioned I felt lucky to have found a job and that's part of the manufacturing day. Not everyone might get lucky. So I feel like that's part of what I could do to throw back and give someone a chance to find something that they enjoy. As most people, they were engineering technology. I was good at math and science as a kid and people told me that I should be an engineer. But I didn't really know why or what engineers did. If I were to have a manufacturing day to be able to see what the inside of a factory is or what an automated machine does or looks like or who works on it, it might have been much easier to find inspiration and find my way here. But it was just luck for me. Instead, I got lucky. For me, I think drafting class. It was a drafting class in high school where I first kind of visualized, okay, here's what math and science can do and connect me to engineering or design and a job. And I liked the drafting. The three views, I thought that was interesting to see the top side and front view. I was good at art when I was a kid and that took it to a technical level. And it was neat to me to think about how things can be represented in those three views and then that's how someone has an idea. It puts it on paper or computer and then that's how they relay that information to other people that would make it, build it. So something about that class really got me interested in pursuing the career. Two experiences that I'm proud or privileged really to be a part of was I got to work at the museum, Science and Industry in Chicago on an automated manufacturing exhibit. And that's called the factory floor and it's been open for over 10 years. And there's the pictures on the top right are the machine that assembles a gravitron as a toy top. And it's a toy they were selling in their store but buying. And it had a whole bunch of parts that were different that would make for a really interesting machine. Plastic, metal, round parts, gears. And this machine was about 13 or 15 assembly stations and it actually did disassemble too. So it assembled the tops, disassembled them so it would be constantly recirculating. And then parts were put up into storage and tended by a storage and retrieval robot overhead on a second floor and then delivered back to the machine and feeder bowls and assembly stations. And that's me on the top right on the red sweater and one of the greatest things was not only be a part of that but to surprise my kids. Those are my twin boys, Max and Jake. And one day I found out that they were going to the museum and I arranged with the teacher to surprise them. So I hid just around the entrance and I got to surprise them and they both looked at me and said, Dad, what are you doing here? So that was pretty cool. I got to show them around the exhibit and the whole rest of the school. There were about 10 different school groups and got to the same thing, show them what engineers do, what people that work on machines get to build. This is where I mentioned the steam turns into teams. The stem, what they were learning in the classes. A couple of visuals. First robotics is an annual challenge. It changes every year. VEX is another version of that and that's the first picture on the left. You see kids with laptops doing things that each generation hasn't had the ability to do before them. And with technology I'll also mention mechanically things haven't changed that much over the last 50 or 100 years. We still have motors and cranks and chains and air cylinders. But I think the big difference, the big accelerator is computers. I came out of college and I was the first person in my company to get Windows 95 from DOS and Novell. And now I really think the advent of Windows, the software and the hardware where people could do so much on a laptop, a tablet, a phone even. Servo motors and vision systems and barcode scanners and controlling machines through PLCs or PCs and robot controllers. It's really the software and the operating systems that have accelerated in the last 20, 25 years since I began my career. The picture on the right is pretty cool. Because of some of these events I've gotten invited to, in this case it was to be a judge in a battle box competition at a local high school. Those are my two sons that were watching these two robots do get out. It's just like the show if any of you have seen a battle box. In fact, I think the show is back on the air and it's certainly being done at a lot of high schools around Chicago as well as the country. Different variations on technology and challenges to get kids interested in pursuing their career. Similar but different note on making the difference. I'd encourage everybody to participate. It's a manufacturing day. Volunteer at local schools to talk with them or give them a tour. That's what I've done and it's been very rewarding and it's great to make that connection. People will take notice. In 2014, the Illinois Governor to be Bruce Watter visited our pack to talk about the importance of manufacturing. That's what our facility looked like and I thought that was a pretty cool event. Somehow we caught his attention on our pack. Just get started and make a difference. Thank you, Brian, for sharing our pack's Manufacturing Day experiences. Before we end today, I wanted to share how PMI can help you with the Manufacturing Day. Earlier this year, PMI launched a matching donation program, the PMI Youth Skills Fund. That allows our member companies dollars to stretch a little bit further when investing in the future of the industry. For any future workforce programs or events such as Manufacturing Day, any PMI member company can apply for matching funds. Those funds can go up to $50,000 annually. This is something that can be used for transportation, so if a school is looking to have students come, it could help with the bus cost for that to your facility. It could also help cover lunch costs. Those are just a few little examples so for more information on the Skills Fund, you can visit the website on your screen, PMI.org backslashgills-funds. In addition to help funding Manufacturing Day and some other events, PMI can also connect you with schools and students to invite your Manufacturing Day. We do have a network of schools throughout the country that we would be more than happy to connect you with. That ends the presentation. I do want to open the session up for any additional questions. If you have those, I know we had a few throughout the presentation. Just feel free to put those in there. Brian, the first question is, what are some of the most popular questions you get asked from kids that come through on Manufacturing Day? Yeah, great question. Probably back to the basics. They're trying to figure out how they could, if they think it's interesting, they want to figure out how they can get there themselves. I come back to that math and science. I didn't say, but I was good at math and science and not really good at the others, because they were boring. It's all about engagement. Employee engagement, student engagement. I did my math and science homework first because I liked it. Like I said, I got lucky finding this career. I stumbled on it. I did a lot of math and science and science and industry. Manufacturing Day provides more opportunities so people don't have to get as lucky, or they'll have a better chance to find their way. When they ask that question, I often say it doesn't have to be college. It can be local colleges, trade schools. A good example, one group that came to visit, probably the most humbling or interesting group that I had, was a group of all women who were going back to school to learn how to do machining to work in a machine shop. Most of them needed a job, needed a second chance, were supporting kids. That was pretty humbling. They were trying to figure out how they could make a living doing something worthwhile. They were really impressed. They loved seeing what we were doing and not just the machining part of it, but then those parts get put into some pretty interesting automated machines. Great. Thank you. Another question. They would like to know if a company should be a member of FMA or NAM to use and be a part of Manufacturing Day? Yeah, I don't think so. It's really open to the public. Like I said, I'm not even sure if we are. I just signed up. I agree. I think this is open up to anyone. You just have to register on MSGday.com and you do not have to be a member associated with either of those organizations. Next question. How do you perspective visitors learn about a hosted event? Through the website when you created the profile, you describe the event, you describe what the people will see at your company and who will be their host. It's really through the website. I suppose maybe word of mouth, once your friends and family and people that work at your company they could spread the word. I think people generally look for what events are available in their nearby area. They put in their city and they could see the nearby events. That's probably how people find you. Like I said, when they want to register the host gets an email and you can call or send an email back to confirm that visit once the request is made. I would also add to that if you have a school that has a STEM program, a robotics program, a technical college just bring some information over to you to the school. I know that Manufacturing Day has a few pamphlets that you can print out so even just taking a few minutes to drive over to a local school maybe posting some fliers up and letting them know about it. So, Brian, is ARPAC doing Manufacturing Day again this year because someone doesn't see it on the website? Yeah, I saw that. Actually, I've been busy and right after I'm done with this webinar I'm going to renew my profile last year because it's so easy and good point. I will get us signed up later today. One final question. How far in advance do you recommend someone's schedule on Manufacturing Day and start planning for this event? Yeah, I would say it's pretty early. Mainly when kids go back to school or teachers the week before as they start planning their year. I think now it's pretty quiet with this summer. So if you sign up within the next couple of weeks I would say that's probably when teachers are going to start looking and students. It's early October so if you're in say a month or six weeks before I think that's about the timeframe when people start looking. Great, thank you. Brian, thank you again for joining us and sharing your experiences for Manufacturing Day. You're welcome. One last point I want to make is you said there's PMMI does have some funds available to do some matching and help with a bus to the event and actually I do want to say that that's in working with the school groups that have wanted to visit some of the groups that have visited it's just a teacher that has pushed it through and to get a classroom they had to get a bus but from talking to other teachers that was some of the objections as well we have to get a bus and this and that and a bus or pay for lunch that is something that has come up commonly where I went to schools but they couldn't come to us because of the bus or logistics so that'll certainly help. Great, well thank you so much and thank you to everyone else who attended today. This is the how to host the successful Manufacturing Day webinar series I thank you again and enjoy the rest of your day.