With October being National Manufacturing Month, Tracy Orne, Jim Fuhrman and Roger Leenerts presented our program on changing the perception of "manufacturing".

Tracy, the Director of Public Relations and Marketing at John Wood Community College, began the discussion by mentioning that her father worked in manufacturing for 45 years at Titan Wheel and provided his family with a good life because of it. But the role of manufacturing has and is changing. Manufacturing jobs makeup 17% of our economy with the average local salary being around $49,000. According to Tracy for every one manufacturing job, there are 2.9 other jobs created as a result of that job. One of the issues is the perception of working in a hot, dirty environment which is hardly the case anymore. As a result, many parents are not encouraging their children to pursue a career in manufacturing as evidenced by a survey that revealed that only 30% of parents encourage it.

Jim Fuhrman, the coordinator of Manufacturing at John Wood Community College, mentioned that JWCC has stepped up to the challenge and has installed machinery at the JWCC campus for students to learn not only how to work the machines but to do so safely by using quality procedures. They also learn math and computer skills as well. Once their course is completed they not only can get an Associate's Degree at John Wood but they also get a National Accredited Certificate which is recognized nationwide to assist them with future employment. According to Jim, the average age of students enrolled in the manufacturing course is 37 at a cost of approximately $4,500 a year.