Two years ago, National Manufacturing Day was created to educate prospective workers on the lucrative opportunities available to them in the growing American manufacturing industry.

On Thursday, Oct. 2, College of the Canyons will welcome the event’s third annual installment to Santa Clarita. The two-day event has been designed to provide area students and job seekers a unique insight into the wide variety of career paths available in the manufacturing industry. The event will also introduce participants to the hundreds of skilled job opportunities that many students may not know are available to them. 

“Santa Clarita Valley is blessed to be home to a rich mix of manufacturers, all of whom need skilled workers,” said Kristin Houser, Dean of Career Technical Education at the college.

“Most people are unaware of how sophisticated many of these manufacturing operations are,” added Houser. “We hope our Manufacturing Day events will help the public, and high school students in particular, understand how to prepare for these fantastic job opportunities.”

Last year, 48 states and 35,000 participants jumped at the chance to grow the Manufacturing Day movement. This year the event is expected to take another step forward, with more than 1,000 manufacturers across the country slated to take part.

Eighty percent of manufacturers currently need more skilled laborers, and that gap in ability is leaving doors open for those willing to step through them. The college’s Manufacturing Day activities have been designed to highlight this fact and introduce future members of the workforce to these career opportunities.

Manufacturing Day 2014 will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2 when a panel of representatives from local manufacturing companies including B&B Manufacturing, Aerospace Dynamics International, Advanced Bionics and others will discuss the jobs available in today’s manufacturing businesses, skills required, career paths, salaries and what they look for in potential employees.

The panel presentation will be followed by a screening of segments of the new documentary film “American Made Movie.” Both portions of the event will take place in Mentry Hall, Room 348, located on the college’s Valencia campus.

The two-day event continues on Friday, Oct. 3, with an educational experience for a group of 120 William S. Hart Union high school students.  

The participants will begin Friday’s lineup of events with exclusive tours of local manufacturers, after which they’ll tour the college’s welding, computer networking, and electronic systems labs.

Before heading back to school, participating students will conclude their Manufacturing Day experience with lunch and a viewing of a portion of the documentary film “American Made Movie” highlighting the high tech nature of manufacturing in America today.

College of the Canyons is partnering with the following organizations to deliver the local edition of National Manufacturing Day: Advanced Bionics, Aerospace Dynamics International, B&B Manufacturing, Boston Scientific, California State University Northridge, the City of Santa Clarita, Donaldson Filtration Systems, the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation, RAH Industries, Timco Aerosystems, APICS, National Science Foundation (NSF) AMPT grant, and the William S. Hart Union High School District.

For more information about the college’s Manufacturing Day events please call Kristin Houser at (661) 362-3408. To register to attend the public event on Thursday, Oct. 2, please visitwww.mfgday.com.