Written by Aaron Nicodemus, (Copyright Worcester Telegram & Gazette) · 10/04/2015 ·
Manufacturing has an image problem, one that it is desperate to shed.
The industry has been known for ‘four D’s’ – dirty, dark, dusty, dangerous. It is not a sector that young people are aspiring to join – or, apparently, that their parents want them to pursue.
At a Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce forum held at the Beechwood Hotel last week connected with National Manufacturing Day, manufacturers and school officials grappled with how to attract young people to manufacturing jobs.
The experiences of two manufacturing employees who spoke at the event were telling.
David Haak and Jonathan Calderon are recent high school graduates who are working as part-time machinist operators at Lampin Corp. in Uxbridge, which is a contract manufacturer for industries like medical equipment, robotics, automation, and testing and measuring equipment. Both graduated from local college preparatory high schools – Millbury and Uxbridge high schools – and both are students at local universities. They are exactly the kind of workers that manufacturing is trying to attract. Read the full story at telegram.com.
