National Manufacturing Day is Friday, October 6, 2017.  Locally, Tri-Rivers Career Center and its workforce training center RAMTEC (Robotics & Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Collaborative) are designated hosts for this event and will open their center at 2222 Marion-Mt. Gilead Rd, Marion, Ohio,  11am to 5pm with activities, demonstrations, contests and displays focusing on the celebration of industry and manufacturing.

“The event is open to the public. We encourage area schools to bring students of all ages for an amazing educational field trip,” said Ritch Ramey, Engineering Coordinator for RAMTEC and event organizer.

Highlighting the event will be a preview of the Capacitance Welder in partnership with The Ohio State University College of Welding, Ashland Chemicals, Honda R & D and Coldwater Machine Company. “The capacitance welder has the ability to weld dissimilar metals. At Manufacturing Day its abilities will be demonstrated. Eventually, it will be located at Tri-Rivers’ RAMTEC fulltime and will be a training tool for our high school and adult students, as well as The Ohio State University Welding students,” said Ramey.

“Our goal of Manufacturing Day is to draw attention to the outstanding opportunities that a career in manufacturing can provide,” said Ritch Ramey. “Over the next decade, it is estimated that nearly 3.5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs will be needed and 2 million of those jobs are expected to go unfilled due to manufacturers’ inability to find talent with the required skills.”

“These numbers dramatically underscore the importance of introducing as many people as possible to the significant role played by manufacturing in Ohio and the entire nation,” said Mark Edington, Tri-Rivers/RAMTEC Certified FANUC Instructor who recently completed his 25,000th hour of instructing industrial training courses. “We have had a busy year in RAMTEC training high school students during the school year as well as at summer camps. We have also been providing training for companies such as Whirlpool, Nucor, Honda, F.T. Precision, Yachiyo and Bridgestone.

Exhibits include: RobotWorx, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, Xigent Robotics, The Ohio State University-Marion, Marion Technical College, Miller Welding, Honda, Canon Vision, Allen-Bradley PLC, Houser Racing, MTD, Fastech MasterCAM, Lincoln Technical College, Universal Robotics, Miller Augmented Welder, Lincoln Electric Welding and Parker Hydraulics and more.

Contests: FANUC Robotics Industrial Robotics contest and Motoman Robotics Industrial Robotics contest.

Demonstrations: The Tree Guy (100 Lift Bucket ); MiRR Robotics (AGV Automated Guided Vehicle); MTD- Die making; Miller Robotics (Virtual Welder); OSUM (Collaborative Welder); Honda (TBD); FANUC Collaborative Robot; Industrial Robotics Contests; CAD Contests; Raspberry PI demonstrations by Tri-Rivers CNET; Sandvik Tooling—Mark Hardin and Tri-Rivers Advanced Machining; Welding Demo by Tri-Rivers Welding Technologies; FANUC and Motoman and more.

The event is sponsored by: Tri-Rivers’s RAMTEC, Yaskawa Motoman Robotics, SME PRIME, Robotics Industries Association, FANUC, Consolidated Electric Cooperative, Inc, National Robotics Challenge, Honda of America Foundation, REC Foundation, First Energy and MTD.

The Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International, promotes Manufacturing Day each October to address misperceptions about manufacturing by giving manufacturers an opportunity to open their doors and show, in a coordinated effort, what manufacturing is — and what it isn’t. “By working together during and after (Manufacturing Day), manufacturers will begin to address the skilled labor shortage they face, connect with future generations, take charge of the public image of manufacturing, and ensure the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry,” the group said in a news release.