February 2022 Volume 4

FORGING RESEARCH

Engaging the next generation begins with exposure. You don’t know what you don’t know. I was twenty years old when I was first exposed to the industry. Twenty! I worked as a summer intern painting yellow lines in a production facility, which was not the ideal job coming home to small-town USA from The Big Apple. I had dreamed my first internship would be in New York City, preferably for a large communication firm. It was never my plan to spend my summer in steel toes. However, if it weren’t for that opportunity, I would have never seen the beauty of the industry. It was on the first day that I saw a glowing red bar come out of an industrial furnace to be forged. Any opportunity to be close to the production, I jumped at. Without this first exposure, and networking along my internship journey, I would have never thought about a marketing career in manufacturing. In college, I was a Communications major focused on getting my degree as I pursued my dream of being a Division I student-athlete. I had no idea what I truly wanted after school, until I knew what the manufacturing industry had to offer. Lucky enough, now I sit at my desk as a Marketing Coordinator for a manufacturing company where I get to see firsthand how amazing manufacturing can be. I must ask myself, though, “What if I was exposed to the industry earlier in life? Would my future have been shaped differently?” How to Engage the Next Generation By Taylor Smith

So, where does it begin? The short answer is in the classroom. With proper resources, we can help students discover their personal values and strengths, which will help them navigate potential career paths that align. Onex President, Ashleigh Walters, and I, have compiled resources for teachers to use in the classroom. From discovering personal values to identifying career paths to bringing the manufacturing process to the classroom, our activities were crafted to encourage the next generation to be open-minded while exploring their interests. Humans learn and grow through experience and exposure. As a leader in the industry, there are so many ways you can help expose the next generation to manufacturing career paths.

An Onex forge furnace being unloaded of a red-hot, glowing piece of steel.

Open Your Doors Let students in. Invite your employees to bring their children to work. Offer plant tours to local schools and teach the next generation about the beauty of the industry. Your employees will enjoy showing off their workplace and specific jobs they perform. There is nothing like a plant tour to get everyone working together to make the factory look its best. The students will be in awe of the sights and sounds. Everything seems to move so fast in manufacturing. If you can, let the students be hands-on in the production of something that they can take home and show their parents. This is a win, win situation as both the employees and students feel proud and excited by the experience.

One of Taylor’s first days on the production floor, learning about Onex’s precast shapes.

FIA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2022 66