For years manufacturing has been stereotyped as dirty, uneducated, and boring.
MDL Manufacturing is dedicated to breaking that mold, and proving that manufacturing is not the same sector that it was 50 years ago.
America was built on the back of our manufacturers and the steel industry. Many of the same occupations exist today, but many of them have changed. We have always had welders, but now we also have robotic welders. Before we always had to manually form parts on a press brake, now we have automated robotic presses. The industry has changed, but many of the attitudes and ideas toward manufacturing have not. One of the ways MDL Manufacturing strives to change that stigma is through community events like Manufacturing Day.
Manufacturing Day is a yearly celebration dedicated to educating young students and the surrounding community about the job opportunities within manufacturing. Each year we have hosted the students, they are amazed at the processes that are involved. Manufacturing isn’t the same industry now as it was in their history books. Programmers, quality technicians, and engineers are all job positions that exist and need to be filled. According to The Manufacturing Institute, over the next decade, over 3 million manufacturing positions will need to be filled and 2 million of those positions are expected to go unfilled due to the skill gap. The skill gap alone is one of the reasons MDL strives to influence and inform up and coming students that manufacturing is a career worth pursuing.
Here at MDL we have a 153 shelf automated pallet system with two lasers attached, one stand alone laser, a plasma table, multiple CNC machines and mills, and robotic welders and presses, all of which require programmers, engineers, and technicians. We are fortunate at MDL to have experienced employees to fill these requirements. Due to the variety of jobs we complete in house, each day provides new challenges to overcome and requires us to constantly review our processes and procedures to make us more efficient and competitive.
Instead of investing a ton of money into a college education that they are not passionate about, we encourage students to consider manufacturing. By enrolling in classes at your local tech center or job shadowing at a manufacturing facility we hope students see the potential of a manufacturing job and that there is indeed a new face of manufacturing.