So now our students are ready to graduate with a taste for what manufacturing is all about. How many of your students are interested in manufacturing? How many even know what jobs are out there and what it takes to get them?

Our students need to know that there are many different fields in manufacturing and that some need on the job training, while others may need two to four year degrees. Let’s face it: Not all of our students are fit to go for a four year engineering degree right out of high school. I feel we need to do a better job educating our students (and parents) about what it takes to be successful in manufacturing.

I found an excellent source of information for students, parents, and teachers alike, thanks to one of my collegues, Jason Hyatt, who shared an amazing website with me. We decided that ALL of our students need to be exposed to information like this from middle school on. We do not have a large sphere of influence at the elementary school yet; but that’s in the works too….

The website is called Smart Futures: Exploring Careers, and there is a whole section on manufacturing. Included in all of this info are excellent videos, job descriptions, and skills needed to succeed in each of the many fileds in manufacturing that it outlines. It even included Management, Production Assembly, and Engineering, just to name a few.

Below are just a few of the descriptive videos found at Smart Futures: Exploring Careers

Trades: Millwright Machinist

Management: Operations Management at Nestle:

Professional: Engineering  (Found on youtube, not from the same source)

Trades: Tool & Die Maker

This is just the “tip of the iceberg” though, as the website is so much more than just these videos. There are external links to many, many different jobs, at all levels, for all of our students interested in manufacturing.

Give Smart Futures: Exploring Careers a try, there is something here for all of your students that are interested in manufacturing. Thanks Jason Hyatt!