“Manufacturers across Michigan aren’t just looking for creators—they’re rolling out the red carpet,” Michigan Manufacturers Association President John Walsh writes in an op-ed in the Midland Daily News.
Click here to read the full op-ed.
“Manufacturers across Michigan aren’t just looking for creators—they’re rolling out the red carpet,” Michigan Manufacturers Association President John Walsh writes in an op-ed in the Midland Daily News.
Click here to read the full op-ed.
The Creators Wanted Tour is in Midland, Michigan, this week, coinciding with the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational on the LGPA Tour. National Association of Manufacturers Board Chair and Chairman and CEO of Dow Jim Fitterling and NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons write in Crain’s Detroit about the immense opportunities in manufacturing.
Click here for the full op-ed.
This week, the Creators Wanted Tour Live made its eighth national tour stop—at Walmart’s 9th annual open call for entrepreneurs and manufacturers.
Drawing a crowd: On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Creators Wanted mobile experience was onsite in Bentonville, Arkansas, as 1,100 small and medium-sized business owners pitched their products to Walmart and Sam’s Club for Walmart’s Open Call 2022. The ultimate prize for the business owners? A “gold ticket” to get their products into the stores.
Committed to manufacturing: The aim of bringing Creators Wanted to this year’s Open Call was to bolster the positive perception of modern manufacturing careers, recruit new manufacturers and connect entrepreneurs and manufacturers with the MI’s workforce-shortage solutions.
Who was there: MI President Carolyn Lee and Vice President of Program Execution Herb Grant were on hand to give manufacturers greater insight into the MI’s growing set of solutions to the dearth of skilled manufacturing labor.
The reaction: “Wherever we go with our Creators Wanted Tour—including here in Bentonville, Arkansas—students, parents, career mentors and even professionals in other industries see what manufacturing can mean and create for futures,” said NAM Managing Vice President of Brand Strategy Chrys Kefalas. “It’s showing there’s dignity, a “cool” factor and massive reward in making things in the United States. Eyes light up.”
The reach: On the second day of the event, more than 3,000 students had already signed up online to learn more about modern manufacturing careers.
Up next: Coinciding with the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational on the LPGA tour, the Creators Wanted Tour Live will make its ninth stop in Midland, Michigan, July 13–16.
This story was originally published on June 30, 2022, in Input, the National Association of Manufacturers’ morning newsletter for manufacturing executives.
Freeport, Texas – Day one of Creators Wanted Tour Live at Brazoswood Career and Technical Education Center, presented by Dow, had many highlights for Brazoswood High School and Brazosport High School students:
Watch the video recap.
Union Pacific Railroad is promoting opportunities for women who might not have thought about a career in rail previously—and they’ve got big plans to do it. Union Pacific intends to double the number of women in its workforce within the next 10 years. The initiative that works in tandem with Creators Wanted is called Careers on Track and is designed to inspire more women and youth to pursue modern industry careers through workforce development and career solutions. Careers offer great pay, great camaraderie and the chance to learn one of America’s most complex logistical networks inside out. There are lots of opportunities for travel within the 23 states in which the railroad operates. Union Pacific’s motto is “Building America” and that’s exactly what their team gets to do everyday. But don’t just take our word for it. Click play below to hear the stories an inspiring trio of UP women – Tina, Snigdha, and Belin – and then let’s go create the future!
It’s back! Following a four-month break, the award-winning Creators Wanted Live Tour hit Scottsdale, Arizona, this week as manufacturers gathered nearby for the NAM board meeting. The attendee response: pure excitement.
Having a blast: Hundreds of manufacturing leaders and teens from the Scottsdale Unified School District and Phoenix-area YMCA chapters attended the Creators Wanted tour stop.
Welcome news: The mobile experience, a project of the NAM and its workforce development and education partner The Manufacturing Institute, shared some big news during its stop in Arizona: the president, CEO and owner of Creators Wanted sponsor Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Lou Kennedy, committed to contribute and raise $1 million for the member-driven initiative to inspire the next generation of manufacturers.
Big impact: The tour stop in Scottsdale resulted in 25,000 new student, emerging-worker and career-mentor email subscribers—all individuals who will help manufacturers fill the talent pipeline.
CNBC coverage: Snap-on Incorporated Chairman and CEO and NAM Executive Committee member Nick Pinchuk went on “Squawk on the Street” Tuesday to talk about Creators Wanted and strengthening the supply chain. NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons talked to CNBC the same day.
Op-ed: Timmons penned an op-ed for The Arizona Republic in which he termed the next 10 years “a manufacturing decade.”
What’s next: Creators Wanted stops next in Freeport, Texas, beginning on April 25, presented by Dow. The campaign is also working to raise additional funding to sustain a fall tour in 2022.
Want to join Kennedy in broadening the reach of Creators Wanted? Email Creators Wanted Finance Director Barret Kedzior at [email protected].
Originally published on March 11, 2022, in Input, the NAM’s morning newsletter for manufacturing executives.
U.S. manufacturers are on a hiring blitz for a $2.6 trillion industry in transformation.
More than 500 students attended and participated in Ducommun’s MFG Day events.
The National Association of Manufacturers and The Manufacturing Institute’s Creators Wanted campaign took the Creators Wanted Tour Live in 2021 to Ohio, South Carolina, Iowa, North Carolina and Texas–with more than 3,500 attendees and 2,700 students participating in the mobile experience, while building an email roster of more than 150,000 people interested in manufacturing careers.
We’re progressing to the campaign goals of recruiting 600,000 new manufacturers, as well as increasing the number of students enrolling in technical and vocational schools or reskilling programs by 25% and increasing the positive perception of the industry among parents to 50% from 27%. And we’re just getting started.
As part of Creators Wanted Tour Live 2021, more than 2,700 students had their eyes opened to the possibilities and fun of well-paying modern manufacturing careers-and hundreds of thousands more signed up to be part of the future of manufacturing. But how did this momentum start? Here is part of our story.