Two hundred students from six Jackson County high schools arrive at the Cummins Seymour Engine Plant Friday morning for MFG Day.
Darren Kimmel, plant manager, welcomes students to the Cummins Seymour Engine Plant on Friday morning on MFG Day.
Brian Terrell, HR representative at AISIN, speaks to students about what it’s like to work for the company and offers advice for interviews.
Leslie Bean, HR support/training specialist at Valeo, walks students through her journey post-high school during MFG Day on Friday morning during MFG Day at the Cummins Seymour Engine Plant.
Bryce Petro, Aaron McDaniel and other Sandy Creek Christian Academy students participate in a communication exercise by Lannett in which they compete with other groups to build the highest structure made out of dry spaghetti noodles and marshmallows during MGF Day on Friday morning at the Cummins Seymour Engine Plant.
Brownstown Central High School students cooperate during Lannett’s communication exercise on MFG Day at the Cummins Seymour Engine Plant.
Heather Keating leads students on a tour through Pet Supplies Plus on Friday afternoon during MFG Day.
Kevin Albom shows students how to use a scanning wand at Pet Supplies Plus on Friday afternoon during MFG Day.
In an effort to motivate the upcoming generation of manufacturers, Manufacturing Day — now known as MFG Day — has been observed nationwide since 2012.
This initiative is a national grassroots movement that highlights the reality and future of modern manufacturing employment. Thousands of companies and educational institutions across the country are encouraged to welcome students, parents, educators and community leaders.
More than 200 students from six Jackson County schools gathered on Friday morning at the Cummins Seymour Engine Plant to attend workshops led by employees of Cummins, Pet Supplies Plus, Aisin USA Mfg. Inc., Lannett Co. Inc. and Valeo. Later on in the day, the students either stayed at Cummins or departed to one of the other participating companies for lunch, a tour and a hands-on activity.
Students from Brownstown, Crothersville, Medora, Sandy Creek Christian Academy, Seymour and Trinity Lutheran all took part in the day.
Cummins Plant Manager Darren Kimmel began the day by thanking the participating businesses and addressing attending students.
“I hope you guys have a fun day,” Kimmel said. “You’ll get to see a little bit about manufacturing in all these different areas and learn what careers you might be able to go into. Just enjoy the day.”
Seymour Mayor Matt Nicholson also thanked the day’s sponsors and spoke to the students.
“Enjoy your day,” Nicholson said. “We hope you learn something. Any day you learn something is a good day. Today, maybe you find that career or whatever it is that you end up doing for many years to come.”
After watching a Cummins safety video, students were divided into four groups and led to workshops that lasted for 20 minutes each.
“Give ‘em a nice, firm handshake,” was one piece of advice Brian Terrell gave students in regard to interviews.
Terrell, who works in human resources for Aisin, led a workshop largely revolving around what it’s like to work at Aisin. He also comprehensively went over the interview process.
“Look sharp, look the part,” Terrell said.
Rachael Hunter, VPI documentation specialist at Cummins, also had interview advice for students during a workshop that focused on career paths after high school and involved employees from multiple companies.
“Don’t lie,” Hunter said. “I put down that I have A2 fluency in French on my résumé, and when I did my first interview [for Cummins], they had me speak French. Google translated it as well to make sure I was actually making sense.”
Gene Ivey, continuous improvement leader at Pet Supplies Plus, encouraged students to work in manufacturing or distribution for the learning experiences and for the potentiality of furthering their careers.
“In manufacturing and distribution, you go to work, and if you apply yourself and focus on what you’re doing, you can learn things and take them and apply them to move up in the world,” Ivey said. “That’s what most of us [who work in manufacturing and distribution] do. I went from loading five trucks a day, and now I’m leading a 780,000-square-foot distribution center.”
A workshop led by Lannett employees found students working together in teams to develop a plan using strategic thinking and effective communication to successfully build the tallest structure using dry spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. The team with the tallest structure, which comprised of students from Sandy Creek Christian Academy, won.
Corey Reynolds, senior at Crothersville, said he plans to work at Cummins in the future.
“Cummins runs in my family, so I might as well stick with it,” Reynolds said.
Beau Napier, fellow senior at Crothersville, said he hopes to progress in his career in a similar fashion to Gene Ivey, and some day he wishes to work in team management.
MFG Day was sponsored by the Jackson County Development Corporation in partnership with all participating local businesses.