Marking its third year as a member of the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) and Manufacturing Institute’s (MI) ‘Dream It. Do It.’ program, Cooper Tire will connect with more than 10,000 students – primarily eighth graders – for Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) events throughout October.
Cooper will focus on the communities where the company has major facilities – Findlay, Ohio; Texarkana, Arkansas; and Tupelo, Mississippi. The tire maker will also host its own Cooper Manufacturing Experience events.
“Manufacturing is technology-driven, fast paced and offers exciting career opportunities, but it can be challenging to attract employees. Many students today are not focused on careers in manufacturing and, unfortunately, great jobs go unfilled,” said John Bollman, Cooper’s senior VP and chief human resources officer.
“Cooper is working to attract students to manufacturing careers by giving young people hands-on experience that mimics what it’s like to work in the tire industry. Over the past several years we have reached nearly 30,000 students through these events, and we hope as they think about a career path in the future they will consider jobs in manufacturing and some of the great opportunities available at Cooper.”
According to a nationwide survey commissioned by NAM in 2016, 89% of students participating in MFG Day events felt more aware of manufacturing jobs in their communities, and 64% reported being more motivated to pursue a career in manufacturing.
This is increasingly important as over the next decade it is estimated that nearly 3.5 million US manufacturing jobs will be created and two million of those jobs are expected to go unfilled due to manufacturers’ challenge to find talent with the required skills.
October 3, 2017
