He said eight local companies, BlueScope, Deceuninck North America, Lahlouh, Magellan Aerospace, Phillips Tube Group, Pilot Chemical, Shape Corporation and Worthington Industries have agreed to host students this month.
Cleveland Cliffs also has agreed to host students, but representatives from the Middletown steel plant are working with school officials directly, Pearce said.
He said 12 tours have been scheduled with about 20 students participating in each tour. The goal, Pearce said, is to expose the 240 students to the many manufacturing jobs that offer a “sustainable wage.”
Representatives from the companies will welcome the students, provide safety equipment when needed, give a guided tour of the plant, and talk about the process for making the product from start to finish. Students will be told what skillset is needed to work there, Pearce said.
In addition to production work, the students will learn about office work, sales, customer service, scheduling and accounting, he said.
Another goal of Manufacturing Day/Month is to dispel the “Four D Myth” that manufacturing jobs are Dark, Dirty, Dangerous and Dead-end, according to Pearce.
Students from Middletown, Monroe, Madison, Edgewood high schools and Cin-Day Academy in Springboro are scheduled to attend the tours expected to last one to two hours, Pearce said.
He thanked the companies for telling their “story to the next generation workforce” and the career and college readiness instructors from the local schools.
Manufacturing Day, which is celebrated nationally, is the manufacturing’s biggest annual opportunity to “inspire the next generation, positively shift perceptions about our industry, and build the foundation for the manufacturing workforce of the future,” according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
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