Middle-school Students Are Introduced to Precision Manufacturing

There are several misconceptions and stereotypes related to manufacturing that are prevalent today. The first is that the industry has died locally and that it would be a mistake for students to pursue a career in the field, as it holds little promise. The second is that the manufacturing jobs that do still exist are repetitive, boring, and don’t take a high degree of intelligence to perform.
Both the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County and area manufacturers say nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the need for people in precision manufacturing is so great that employers can’t fill job openings, and as a result they are taking extraordinary measures to counter these stereotypes and educate people about how sophisticated the field has become and how well it pays.
“Precision manufacturing is a critical and growing sector in the region,” said David Cruise, director of Business and Employer Services for the Regional Employment Board. “The majority of local manufacturing companies are working in defense, aerospace, medical devices, and commercial markets. Their work is called precision because they are producing low volumes of highly engineered parts and assemblies that are being used in places such as military aircraft. The equipment they use to make these parts is highly sophisticated, and takes people who have really good math and computer skills to run it.”
Charlie Mills, vice president of Manufacturing at Berkshire Industries Inc. in Westfield, agrees. “A career in manufacturing used to be a nowhere job in a dangerous environment,” he said. “But none of this is true anymore. Students today need to learn engineering and programming to enter this field, and must have a full understanding of computer-aided drafting and computer numerical controlled machines. The jobs are interesting, and people can make huge amounts of money in them.”
The starting salary for graduates of vocational technical high schools at his company is $46,375, which goes up to $50,375 after their second full year on the job and rises each year thereafter.
In fact, the competition for qualified employees is so stiff that it’s not uncommon for companies to steal workers from each other, Mills said. What makes the situation worse is that local precision manufacturers expect a large percentage of their employees to retire in the next five to seven years.
To that end, local manufacturers have bonded together to educate young students and get them interested in the field of precision manufacturing. They have raised money to buy sophisticated equipment for vocational technical high schools and are serving as volunteers on their vocational/technical committees to insure that their curriculums keep pace with advances in technology.
“We are all passionate about this,” Mills said. “We realize we are in this together, and undermining anyone is not to anyone’s benefit.”
Several hundred eighth-grade students were selected by their guidance counselors to tour local manufacturing plants on Nov. 10 as part of a Middle School Precision Manufacturing Career Awareness Day. They live in towns or cities that have vocational technical schools that offer machine-tool technology programs, and their transportation costs will be paid by REB. “We want to give them the opportunity to see for themselves what the manufacturing environment is like and what kind of work people in it are doing today,” Cruise said.

Not the Same Old Grind
The collaborative event, which falls under the umbrella of the Precision Manufacturing Regional Alliance Project, is among a variety of programs initiated by the Regional Precision Manufacturing Technology Advisory Council. Its goal is to provide strategic guidance and support to industry members who serve on machine-tool technology advisory committees in the Pioneer Valley.
Although some might question the value in taking eighth graders on a tour, experts say there is a direct correlation between interest at this age and the number of employees they will have to choose from in the future. The reason is that the majority come from technical high schools, and middle-school students will have to choose whether to attend a conventional high school or a vocational technical high school in the next few months. These schools exist locally in Palmer, Westfield, Chicopee, Springfield, Holyoke, and Northampton.
“These communities are also the home base of most of our manufacturers,” said Cruise. “Our goal is to expose and familiarize eighth-grade students with precision manufacturing because we believe they don’t have an understanding of it. We want them to see first-hand what manufacturing looks like and show them that, if they are interested in it, there is an educational pathway they need to consider that has good opportunties and good-paying jobs that they can get into immediately after high school.”
The council is also doing its best to educate parents.
“There are adults who may have worked in manufacturing and see it as a dying industry that is dirty and dark without career opportunities,” Cruise said. “But today, it is very sophisticated work that is driven by computers and requires young people who are smart and can think in a team concept. But it’s a story that is very hard to tell. So we are also trying to work with the educational community and let them know this is a viable career pathway.”
The tours are a “long-term investment,” said Eric Hagopian, president of Hoppe Tool Inc. in Chicopee. “Our company has been in business for 70 years, and we can’t look at things on a day-to-day basis. In order to get skilled machinists in the pipeline, we have to start now, as in many cases, even guidance counselors have no idea about what a career in precision manufacturing involves.”
Putnam Vocational Technical High School had closed its precision-machinery program years ago, but volunteers, including Hagopian, helped it restart a new program at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars.
Their strategy is working, as enrollment in area programs has increased from 198 students in 2006 to 306 students in 2008.
“Today, there are waiting lists to get in. And if parents could see the type of environment their children would be spending their lives in and the kind of money they can make, they would want them to pursue this,” Mills said. “We are dying to have students enter this field, and we can guarantee them that they will have work for years and years and years to come.”
Hagopian agrees. “We have unfilled positions right now, and there are more jobs in the area than there are people to fill them. People make the mistake of believing that all manufacturing jobs have gone to China. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Precision manufacturing is a high-tech field,” he continued. “It’s all about computers, technology, robotics, engineering, and automation. The jobs that are open are extremely responsible, high-tech ones making components that people’s lives depend on which are vital to our national defense, Homeland Security, the health of our population, and transportation.”
Parts of the Whole
Hagopian has two students from Putnam who are involved with a co-op program at the plant. “They came on a tour here four years ago while they were in the eighth grade. If they hadn’t, it’s unlikely that they would have entered this field,” he said.
The presence of those students in his shop is proof positive, said Hagopian, that the investments being made in eighth-grade students are already paying dividends.
The Nov. 10 program is designed to generate more precision-manufacturing specialists for years and decades to come. All those involved believe it is time very well spent — for all those involved.