For plastics, every day can be Manufacturing Day

If you're trying to get the next generation of plastics workers excited about manufacturing, today is the day. The plastics industry is expecting record participation in Manufacturing Day 2016.

Usually held on the first Friday of October, Manufacturing Day was started to boost the image of U.S. manufacturing and inspire the next generation of makers to seek careers in manufacturing. But the spirit of the day should not be confined to Oct. 7, said SPI's Katie Masterson, senior program manager for industry affairs.

In addition to events throughout the month, “every day can be Manufacturing Day,” she said.

This year will be the fourth the plastics industry trade group the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. sponsored the nationwide event, which is produced by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International; the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, part of the U.S. Commerce Department's Institute of Standards and Technology. But it is Masterson's second year rallying the effort and encouraging more plastics industry participation.

There was a 200 percent increase in SPI member participation on Manufacturing Day from 2014 to 2015, she said. This year, a drop-down box in the event registration process for the plastics and rubber industry makes it easier to track industry and SPI member participation. More than 100 plastics facilities are expected to participate so far, but SPI is holding off on touting numbers for now.

“We don't want to state any numbers yet,” she said. “We're just hoping to see continued growth. We'll report out some more statistics after the fact, but for now we're just excited about the day.”

Efforts to boost 2016 plastics participation have focused on getting young people interested in the industry with the help of young people already in the industry.

“This year we've really engaged our young professional group, FLiP [SPI's Future Leaders in Plastics],” she said. “Some off our FLiP members have been the advocates at their own companies to encourage them to open their doors.”

While putting on a community open house could sound daunting to some companies, there are other, scaled-down ways to participate in Manufacturing Day, Masterson said, from inviting school groups or Scout troops for a tour to speaking at a Career Day. Manufacturing Day also gets some serious social media traffic, she said, providing a look into facilities all over the country though Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #MFGday16.

Though nothing gets people excited about making things — or changes perceptions about what it's like to work in a factory — like seeing in person.

“I think once people walk in the doors, they have a better idea of what modern manufacturing looks like,” Masterson said. “The can look around and see there are 30 different types of jobs at this facility. It helps them see you should be thinking of manufacturing as a job opportunity no matter what your career path.”