The PMMI Foundation is supporting 20 summer manufacturing camps in 2020 and 2021 with a $100,000 grant to Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs (NBT), the Foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Int’l. (FMA). To narrow the growing skills gap, the PMMI Foundation and NBT are partnering to develop summer camps that educate and inspire the future workforce to explore career opportunities in packaging and processing.
The grant will support and allow approximately 300 students, ages 12 to 16, to be introduced to the manufacturing process from design through production. “One of the most wide-spread challenges cited by our members is how to address the growing skills gap within the packaging and processing equipment manufacturing industry,” said PMMI President and CEO Jim Pittas. “The partnership between the PMMI Foundation and Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs is an exciting opportunity to reach and inspire young people to pursue careers in manufacturing.”
One- and two-week summer camps have been a successful way of introducing middle and high school students to the high-tech career choices in today’s advanced manufacturing industry. Camps allow students to make something with their hands, sparking their imagination and encouraging them to consider a career in manufacturing. This summer, NBT will support a record number of 133 camps across the U.S.
To be eligible for camp grant funding, schools must be able to accommodate at least 12 students at their facility, direct an entrepreneurship camp curriculum, introduce manufacturing processes that allow hands-on experiences to build a take-home project, and provide opportunities to tour local manufacturing plants during the camp.
“For most of the kids who attend these camps, it is their first introduction to how things are made and what skills are required for entry into the world of manufacturing,” said FMA and NBT President and CEO Edward Youdell. “The associated tours of manufacturing businesses that these campers take part in, help to connect the skills they learn during camp to career opportunities available in their community. We can’t start too early in our effort to attract the best and brightest into manufacturing.”
For more information, visit pmmi.org/workforce-development/foundation.