Toshiba's Manufacturing Day is one of over 600 events that will be taking place across the U.S. on October 3, as part of "MFG Day 2014," (www.MFGday.com), a grassroots movement dedicated to overcoming the challenges facing today's manufacturers. Co-sponsors include Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International; the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM); Manufacturing Institute; and Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), a program of the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Toshiba will provide live injection molding machine demonstrations and presentations by plastics industry leaders, designed to make students more aware of the U.S. manufacturing market as well as the career opportunities it offers. The event will be held from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm at Toshiba Machine America's corporate headquarters in Elk Grove Village, IL.
"We've been diligently working on a program that would increase the next generation's awareness of manufacturing, especially in Illinois, so that we can maintain America's strength in the global economy," said Toshiba Machine America General Manager Tom McKevitt.
With the focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education and increasing students' proficiency in these subjects in core fields, McKevitt opines that the industry also needs "to address the fundamentals of manufacturing, which are needed to bring the younger generation's fresh new ideas to market."
Toshiba hopes to capture the interest in manufacturing for these students by demonstrating injection molding systems, machine tools, and SCARA robotics and explain how they're used to manufacture products for a variety of industries. They'll also provide an overview of the plastics industry and the types of jobs that are available. Guest speakers include Michael Taylor, Senior Director, International Affairs and Trade, Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) and Omar A. Ghrayeb, Associate Dean, Outreach and Undergraduate Programs, Northern Illinois University.
Others making presentations at the Toshiba event will be plastics industry business leaders from Meadoworks, Paulson Training Programs Inc., RJG Inc., Reiloy Westland Corp. and Yushin America Inc.
