Manufacturing Day in Stark County: Students get up-close look at area plants
Local manufacturers gave high school students across Stark County an inside look at career opportunities during the second annual Manufacturing Day.
Nine area high schools and 13 companies participated in the countywide event coordinated by the Stark County Manufacturing Workforce Development Partnership. The nonprofit partnership was formed in 2021 by local companies and regional agencies with the goal of bolstering manufacturing in Stark County, which consists of 550 manufacturers and 26,000 employees.
Alexandra O'Connor, project manager at the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, said information about Manufacturing Day was given to schools to be shared with students ― primarily upperclassmen ― of any educational background.
"The goal is to show career pathways in manufacturing," she said.
An inside look at Hendrickson in Navarre
Fairless High School sophomores, juniors and seniors toured Hendrickson for their second and final tour of the day. Plant Manager Nick Frank said about 300 employees work at the 200,000-square-foot warehouse in Navarre.
Welders, assemblers and forklift drivers build suspensions for highway trailers, flatbeds and tanker trucks. Frank said one of Hendrickson's largest customers is MAC Trailer, which is based in the Alliance area.
Frank said hiring new employees has been a challenge in recent years and the company "beefed up" its in-house training since many new hires had no previous manufacturing jobs.
"Since COVID, the job market's changed for a lot of people," he said.
Stephanie Janecek, human resources manager at Hendrickson, said the company hires those with educational backgrounds ranging from high school to technical school or college. Hendrickson provides college tuition reimbursement and wages depending on the job position and shift.
"We do a lot of promoting from within," she said.
Stark students weigh in on Manufacturing Day
Allen Harrison, a senior at Fairless, said he took part in the tour because he's considering a career in manufacturing. After tours at Hendrickson and Fresh Mark in Massillon, he said the factories seemed like good places to work with multiple job opportunities beyond physical labor.
"I like the work environment a lot," Harrison said.
Emilee Keehn, a junior at Fairless, said she has family members in the manufacturing field and is debating what she wants to do after high school. Her main takeaway from Manufacturing Day also was the variety of career opportunities and paths.
"There's a lot to do," Keehn said.
In addition to Fairless, the participating high schools included Alliance, East Canton, Academy for Urban Scholars Canton, Louisville, Sandy Valley, Minerva, Marlington, and Hoover.
Additional companies involved were Ohio Gratings, Stark Industrial LLC, Coastal Pet Products, Powell Electrical Systems, Stark State College, United Architectural Metals, Cintas Corporation, Lindsay Precast, Mac Trailer, PTC Alliance and NSK Corp.
Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.comOn Twitter: @kbyerREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County students tour companies for Manufacturing Day
