Lenape Students Tour Local Manufacturers
Two weeks ago, Lenape Tech Mechatronics students toured Sloan Lubrication Systems in Freeport as part of Manufacturing Day. (submitted photo)
Lenape Tech students from three technology programs learned first-hand from two local manufacturing companies a few weeks ago.
In celebration of Manufacturing Day 2015, students in the Precision Machining, CADD/Pre-Engineering and Mechatronics programs visited and asked questions at BelleFlex Technologies, in Ford City, and Sloan Lubrication Systems, in Freeport, October 2.
According to the national website, “Manufacturing Day” - which occurs annually the first Friday of October - is meant to addresses common misconceptions about manufacturing by giving manufacturers an opportunity to open their doors and show what manufacturing really is — and what it isn’t.
BelleFlex Technologies General Manager Frank Ballina said the demand for manufacturing employees is going to increase exponentially.
“There is an increasing demand for highly skilled professionals in the manufacturing sector who can design, program and operate technology,” said Ballina. “The average age of a manufacturing employee is 56, and between now and 2020 there will be an unprecedented shortage of skilled workers who will need to be replaced.”
Sloan Lubrication Systems President and CEO Walter Sloan added that will also cause a challenge.
“The retirement of the Baby Boom generation is now well
underway. The ongoing demographic transition may be the single biggest challenge manufacturers will have to contend with over the next five to 10 years,” Sloan said.
Manufacturing Day is co-produced by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Manufacturing Institute (MI), the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s
(NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), and guest producer Industrial Strength Marketing (ISM).
Both companies are part of the Armstrong County Manufacturing Consortium (ACMC) - an organization within the Tri-County Manufacturing Consortium (TCMC) made up of manufacturing
companies having a shared sense of urgency concerning the regions’ ability to provide a technically-trained workforce in the numbers needed by the manufacturing sector.
Local News | KP NewsDesk October 16, 2015
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