Northeastern Ohio’s Lakeland Community College held a double elimination battlebot competition Saturday, April 31.
PMPA Members Criterion Tool, Fischer Special Tooling, and Technical Equipment Company were PMPA member companies sponsoring at the event.
Ten Northeast Ohio high schools fielded teams that built, (REPAIRED!) and battled their robots in the competition.
Twenty-four percent (24%) of employment in Lake County is related to manufacturing.
Competitions like this one help students develop skills and understanding that will serve them well in all areas of life. Planning, designing, making, solving problems, fixing, redesigning…
While most parents today think of manufacturing like it was in the smokestack days of their parents, the students at Saturday’s competition learned that it’s not about punching a time clock or shirking work- its about being part of a team that comes together to design create, and operate real things. We’re pleased that PMPA members are helping a new generation find the joys of manufacturing. Of how it feels to be one of the People Who Make Things.
Manufacturing is a vital part of the economy in Lake County and the state of Ohio.
And for 10 teams of high schoolers, its a vital part of understanding a bright future for themselves.
Thanks to Criterion Tool, Fischer Special Tooling, Technical Equipment Company, Lakeland College, and all the other sponsors that came together to give these high school students a chance to feel for themselves the joys of manufacturing- building a product, and watching it perform.
Congratulations to the team from Lake Catholic who won the Championship.
See a video on the News Herald site here.
Tag: People who make things
There are a lot of things to consider in the chart below, but as a manufacturing guy, I believe that the strong economic performance by Germany, compared to Ireland at the current moment, might be partly explained by Germany’s strong apprenticeship programs, as opposed to sending everyone off to University.
Making people who can make things as opposed to churning out masses of “symbol managers.”
Q: Who would have thought of “Post Secondary Educational Achievement” a possible negative economic indicator?
A: Professional Journeymen in the trades, perhaps.
So why is the German economy, with its relative lack of large numbers of well educated citizens in the 20-24 year old age group so far ahead of Ireland?
Perhaps –Manufacturing.
Perhaps- Apprenticeships.
Perhaps.
Chart courtesy of Clusterstock Who captioned this Graph” The Irish Collapse Is An Embarrassment To Everyone Who Loves Education”
Further Reading: Shopcraft as Soulcraft
EMC Precision Machining, a fourth-generation, family-owned company that produces complex precision metal components for a diverse group of global customers, was a stop on President Barack Obama’s area tour today prior to his Town Hall Meeting at Lorain County Community College.
President Obama met with EMC Precision Machining CEO Jeffrey B. Ohlemacher and President Bradley R. Ohlemacher before touring the facility and meeting many of the company’s 44 full-time employees.
EMC is a 4th generation, 85 year young enterprise that has weathered the economic storm by continuing to invest in its people, systems, and assets, keeping its focus on the urgent machining needs of its customers.
Customers in industrial equipment, hydraulics, pneumatics, transportation, medical and aerospace and agricultural markets. EMC produce precision machined components that go into a wide range of applications, from putting glue on your cereal box, to critical hydraulics systems in helicopters.
We’re glad the president got to see first hand how people who make things, make things. We’re glad that the Ohlemachers and employees at EMC Precision Machining were able to connect with the president, and share how their experience with continuous education and training, staying up to date with the latest technologies and investing in priorities has kept them competitive despite difficult times.
Thats a message to take back to Washington.
More details on the presidents visit here. Here. And here.
More details on EMC Precision Machining.
The EMC Website.
Family owned firms account for 89% of all businesses in the United States.
Family owned businesses employ 59% of the working population.
They are responsible for 64% of the U.S.’s Gross Domestic Product.
Family owned firms created 86 % of all of the new jobs over the last decade.
So when you look at the people invited to help shape our nation’s job recovery policy, you’d expect to see a significant number of – say- owners of family owned businesses, entrepreneurs, and small to medium enterprises. Right?
So who was invited to attend this job summit to share their ‘experience’ with job creation?
American Federation of Teachers Union President Randy Weingarten. His union gave the Obama campaign $1,997,735 back in October 2008. No idea how many jobs his organization has ‘created.’
Secretary- Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union Political Action Committee, Anna Burger, was invited. According to federal election records, that committee gave $29,442,016 to the Obama campaign between February 2008 and September 2009.
$29,442,016!
Several other union officials were invited as well, including Leo Gerard of the Steelworkers union. How many jobs have they created? Steelworkers are a minority in their own union.
A couple of Hollywood types as well as some green lobby spokespeople.
We understand the inclusion of officials from big companies like Boeing, Disney and Comcast. (Actually, we’ll be watching to see how many workers are laid off after the Comcast merger closes…)
And we understand the inclusion of academics, and economists, for sake of assuring a rich and constructive dialog.
But who did the Obama Job Summit ignore?
Family firms. Small to medium entrepreneurs in manufacturing. People like us. People with ‘experience’ creating jobs. Experience creating opportunities for employment.
We’re the people that make things.
We’re family firms,-not to be ignored.
Except we are being ignored.
We don’t have a seat at the table. Why?
Is it because
- Family owned firms account for 89% of all businesses in the United States.
- Family owned businesses employ 59% of the working population.
- They are responsible for 64% of the U.S.’s Gross Domestic Product.
- Family owned firms created 86 % of all of the new jobs over the last decade.
Why weren’t these real creators of jobs and employment be included?