Manufacturing in the limelight

Get your smile on. It's National Manufacturing Day!

Is it just me, or does it seem to you that there is a National Day for everything under the sun? Six days into October, we’ve observed more than 20 National Days already.

No, this isn’t fuzzy math. Multiple recognitionss fall on the same day. For example, Oct. 4 was National Taco Day, National Golf Lover’s Day, National Vodka Day, National Walk to School Day, and National Pumpkin Seed Day. So, after you walked the kids to school, you could have played a round of golf; had tacos and vodka for lunch (if you’re an early drinker); toasted pumpkin seeds (possibly while drinking vodka) for the kids’ lunchbox snack the following day; and covered the whole enchilada. (Wait, National Enchilada Day was May 5. Hope you didn’t miss it.)

Or, like many of us, you could have been working and oblivious to what you should be paying attention to on any given day.

I know I don’t pay much attention to these national days, with one exception—National Manufacturing Day, which falls on the first Friday in October—today.

As noted on mfgday.com, “Manufacturing Day^SM is a celebration of modern manufacturing meant to inspire the next generation of manufacturers. While Manufacturing Day is officially Oct. 6, companies and community organizations should plan their events on the date in October that works best for them.” So, we might say that October is really National Manufacturing Month, although it is not yet officially designated as such.

Of all the possible things we could acknowledge and celebrate, manufacturing is—in my book—one of the most important. Manufacturing has made enormous contributions to our country and culture. The U.S. has reaped the benefits of manufacturing might, and I feel it’s crucial to the economic health and welfare of our nation to have a strong manufacturing industry.

If you are involved in manufacturing, I hope that you are actively celebrating its national day by hosting or attending an event and encouraging others to do the same. We keep hearing that manufacturing is alive and well in the U.S. That can’t continue unless the industry takes center stage as often as possible.

As you survey your surroundings at this moment, think about all of the items you see that were manufactured. Unless you are in a remote, wide-open space, almost everything, right? Someone, somewhere made this computer and keyboard that I’m using to write this. Then there’s my desk, the telephone on it, the pencil/pen holder and its contents, pots that hold plants, picture frames … you get the picture. And many of these items that once were made in the U.S. are no longer, and that makes me sad.

On a side note, the seed for Manufacturing Day was planted in 2012 by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Intl. (FMA), the organization behind thefabricator.com and my employer. That makes me proud.

Support U.S. manufacturing. It’s more important than ever.

Hosting or attending a Manufacturing Day event? Tell us about it in the comment section below, or email vickib@thefabricator.com. And thank you!