On Tuesday, October 3, the Cape Chamber is hosting the second annual Manufacturing Day at the Career and Technology Center in Cape.
Last year, several workforce professionals in our region came together to identify some of our greatest challenges and opportunities. Those meetings led us to create some more strategic efforts to support our advanced manufacturers. Specifically, what we hoped to do was positively affect the image our community has of manufacturing.
We build some really neat stuff in our region, in hi-tech facilities, with incredibly advanced machines. The picture we all have of manufacturing from the 50s is just simply wrong in 2017. The average manufacturing worker in the U.S. earns approximately $77,500, which is around $15,000 higher than the average for all industries across the U.S. Manufacturing is an extremely viable career option that is often overlooked.
One small thing we decided we could do to help change the image was hosting a Manufacturing Day. We will have nearly 200 area 8th and 9th graders in a room with several manufacturers. The companies will be doing hands-on activities with the students. In addition, students will watch a video about modern-day manufacturing and build their own little robots.
Through our recent partnership with the Missouri Chamber’s "Dream It. Do It" program, we are part of a state-wide, even nation-wide, network of organizations hosting manufacturing events in early October.
Also this week, we will be doing a grand opening ribbon cutting on Wish Cape, a mission-based boutique near CiCis pizza and helping Alliance Bank on Kingshighway celebrate 20 years.
