As the school year came to a close Fab Masters Company provided tour opportunities for 2 local schools.
Showcasing Career Opportunities for Manufacturing
The goal of these events was to showcase career opportunities in manufacturing for young people as they prepare to enter the workforce. Roughly 50 students aged 16 to 18 visited Fab Masters this spring from Marcellus and White Pigeon High Schools. Students were surprised to find out what a variety of career opportunities exist within a medium sized, independent manufacturing facility. Not only are there production jobs like sawyers, CNC and press operators, Fab Masters offers production welding and a welding school to develop welders’ skill levels and provide certification. Other support activities to assist production include machine set-up personnel, quality inspection, and department supervision for the various production shifts. Production is also supported by other activities like material handling with fork lift drivers, material shipping and receiving, truck driving, packaging, purchasing, and sales personnel.
White-Pigeon-Tour-Group-400×248.jpg Production requires other support activities too like CNC program writing, CAD and computer services, tool design and development, engineering, and machine maintenance. Along with these direct production support activities, students saw some of the other behind the scene activities like marketing, sales, job estimating and quoting, purchasing of raw materials, tools and supplies, accounting, inventory management, supervision and human resource management. A position even exists just for certification and compliance to be sure all state, federal and local laws are being followed safely and Fab Masters employees operate in a safe workplace.
Of the roughly 90 employees at Fab Masters, students were surprised to find out only about half are direct production labor. The other half support the production effort by doing all the other activities needed to bring a finished product to the customer. It takes a large coordinated effort to keep a manufacturing facility operating smoothly. The high school students that came to visit Fab Masters had no idea how many different processes and opportunities a manufacturing facility could offer for a career.
Students had the opportunity to ask Fab Masters employees how their career path had led them to their current position and duties. Many employees had vastly different routes to their current job ranging from education to employment training in previous positions to career path growth within Fab Masters over the years. Fab Masters employees bring with them a wealth of previous experience and education to prepare them for a days’ work. A couple common and reoccurring attributes were identified and recommended. Good math and verbal skills were essential in the performance of just about every task required, and math was even more critical in many of the jobs being performed. Other key characteristics for career success are a positive attitude, an aggressive nature to perform at a high level, and a true love of what you are doing. A good attitude helps an employee overcome the challenges they face on a daily basis. Solid math and verbal skills provide a basis for advancement and success. At the end of the tour, students were left with the knowledge that the lessons they learn in the class room will have real world application in the workplace. The moral of the story was stay in school, learn all you can and take on your challenges from a positive perspective to be successful in the workforce some day.