Manufacturing Day 2024
NES: A prominent player on MFG Day
By J.P. BUTLER
Marketing Coordinator
In two weeks, a group of high school students will don their safety glasses, congregate around Chris Napoleon and embark on a tour of our facility.
It’s just one of the ways in which Napoleon Engineering Services will be participating in National Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) and the accompanying month-long festivities.
MFG Day, celebrated every first Friday of October, was created to educate the public about the state of modern manufacturing and to inspire interest in manufacturing careers. Organized nationally by the Manufacturing Institute in 2012, it’s the industry’s biggest annual opportunity to inspire the next generation, positively shift perceptions about the profession and build the foundation for the workforce of the future.
MFG Day is, in many ways, an extension of our local “Dream It, Do It” organization, whose objectives are much the same. Companies are encouraged to open their doors to the public (primarily students, parents and teachers) to showcase their facilities and the potential of modern manufacturing. They’re called upon to host events and engage with the community.
And that’s exactly what NES, as a local manufacturing leader, is going to do.
NES IS scheduled to host student tour/activity days, through CA-DIDI, on October 18 and November 8; one of those is already cemented – we will welcome Design and Drawing for Production (DDP), robotics and computer-aided design (CAD) students from Cuba-Rushford on Nov. 8, from 12:15-2 p.m.
We’ve also registered as an official #MFGDay24 supporter on the Manufacturing USA website, where NES has been prominently displayed on the official MFG Day national map, and posted on social media about this important endeavor to help raise more awareness in our community.
Additionally, we’d like to use the next company lunch to commemorate the day and acknowledge the critical role that all of you play in making NES a successful U.S. manufacturer and a prominent figure in the local celebration.
OVER THE last 12 years, MFG has become a truly significant day on the calendar.
But why?
To help promote the range of jobs that are available in the local sector and beyond and to do our part in stemming the burgeoning labor shortage.
According to a March article in ECI Solutions, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, around 1.4 million manufacturing jobs were lost. As the industry moves toward full recovery, however, the demand for workers has increased so rapidly that a potential labor crisis could be looming.
Currently, this issue already runs relatively deep.
Per the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, around 45% of manufacturing job openings (615,000) remain unfilled. This, of course, reduces factory production capacity and threatens companies’ profitability. Further, a Deloitte analysis found that one-third of the manufacturing workforce is over 55 years old, suggesting that the labor shortage problem could become more critical as the baby boomer generation retires.
INDEED, according to the Manufacturing Institute, by 2030, manufacturers will need to fill an extra four million jobs. But based on the industry’s present trajectory, the MI predicts that over half of those (2.1 million) may go unfilled.
A bright spot, locally, on the matter is that New York state ranked No. 1 nationally in the correlation between manufacturing jobs available and those obtained in 2023 – with 1,600 job searches and 1,610 jobs available, good for a deficit of just 0.62%. And NES has done its part in keeping that figure so low.
“We don’t have that problem,” Napoleon, NES’ president and chief engineer, reiterated in July, noting that our company has historically managed to recruit and retain quality employees as we’ve cultivated an environment where workers can achieve a rewarding a manufacturing career while living the lifestyle that they desire. Still, for NES, these kinds of events are crucial, as they allow us to continue developing our own workforce while helping to address the overall labor shortage.
As we know: Young people need to be made aware in high school of the breadth of opportunities in manufacturing. This industry isn’t typically covered in traditional education, and so exposing more students to various career opportunities in this field could reduce negative perceptions about factory work and give them a foundation for making an eventual impact in manufacturing.
NES is intent on continuing to play a leading role in these efforts.
Happy National Manufacturing Day to our many great co-workers who help make our corner of the manufacturing sector so special!