The much-anticipated fifth annual manufacturing day was heavily attended on Wednesday, Oct. 14, with 118 students participating in the event and touring four local manufacturing facilities.

The Sabetha Chamber of Commerce — along with eight area manufacturers — came together on Wednesday, Oct. 14, to introduce students from area schools to the manufacturing industry.

The eight local manufacturers present were Coperion, CW Mill Equipment, Horizon Systems, Triple C HydraBed, KSi, USC, JBT Marel Wenger and NorthWind. Area students ranging in ninth through 12th grades came from the following schools: Sabetha, Auburn, Axtell, Hiawatha, Holton, Horton, Jackson Heights, Prairie Meadows, Nemaha Central, HTRS and Cornerstone Classical Academy.

Also present were multiple local colleges and technical schools including Highland Community College, Kansas State University, Pitt State, Washburn University Tech and Washburn University. These schools were present to discuss with students educational opportunities that are available in engineering, welding, etc., but also in business management that helps these manufacturers thrive.

Following registration and announcements, attendees loaded multiple busses to travel to four different Sabetha manufacturers — NorthWind, Triple C, Coperion and Wenger — for facility tours.

The Herald attended Manufacturing Day to interview the manufacturers and students and asked what they hoped would come out of the event.

About the Manufacturing Day

Manufacturing Day in Sabetha was created five years ago — and is now an annual event — with the purpose of introducing area students to the world of manufacturing. With an extensive list of manufacturers, Sabetha is the ideal location for this special event that continues to grow each year.

 

Manufacturers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you hope the students get out of Manufacturing Day today?

Jason Selland with JBT Marel Wenger

“I want students to understand that there are endless opportunities in manufacturing. We talked with students a lot about the surface level jobs that we all know of, machinist, welder, those kinds of things. There are so many more support roles that go along with those. I think exposing students to our facilities here in Sabetha, you can have a really great conversation about what that job is and all of the things that have to happen to make that welder capable of doing his job. Those are all roles that need to be filled. I love today. Manufacturing Day is my thing.”

Amy Schmitz with JBT Marel Wenger

“I hope that they see that there are local jobs that include technology and that there are jobs for women that are outside nursing and teaching.”

Katie Compo

“There is more to manufacturing than just working on a shop floor.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Todd Strahm with KSi

“I hope it peaks their interest in everything that is local and just gives them the opportunity to think about a career that is close to home and supporting the community. They don’t have to go a long ways away to find a lot of interesting stuff.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harold Schmelzle with Horizon Systems

“Just understanding that there are a lot of different opportunities within a company like ours. There’s anything from engineering to accounting to shop floor to field service. There’s just a lot of opportunities and it’s not just a shop floor job. That is the message I would like to get across. It’s not just a welding job or an assembly job. There are a lot of opportunities.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kerry Broxterman and Terra Ferris with Triple C/Hydrabed

“I think there is so much opportunity for students to explore there secondary path, other than just a four-year college. This town has a lot to offer as far as manufacturing. It’s just a different way of life. There’s other options. To keep debt less when they are entering adulthood and still make a very honorable and respectful nice living.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josh Burger with Coperion

“I would say that in manufacturing, there are just a lot of different opportunities. Depending on what you want to study, we’ve got stuff in accounting and finance, sales, engineering. When you’re talking about more skilled trades, we’ve got welding, fabrication, painting, assembly. There is something for everybody in manufacturing. It’s just figuring out what you want to do and applying it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brandy Youde with USC

“For them [the students] to learn what all Sabetha has to offer them in the manufacturing field.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cullen Bergman with CW Mill Equipment

“I expect and hope the students would be able to come away realizing the career opportunities that can be had locally in the manufacturing field…the variety of careers, there’s not just machining and welding, there’s other opportunities as well.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Komari Aberle with NorthWind

“Really, what Manufacturing Day is about is just getting the students exposed to careers in the manufacturing field. And that could be as a machinist, as an engineer, software development, project management, but there’s also a lot of careers in just the support of manufacturing. So HR, which is my role, then accounting, marketing, just extra services, just all of those support roles. So there’s a lot of different opportunities for them.”

 

Students

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connor Belveal, Senior

Holton High School

Do you know anything about any of the manufacturers that are going to be here today? If so, which ones are you excited to learn about?

“I don’t anything about the manufacturers.”

What are you looking forward to today?

“I’m looking forward to learning about the process and I know it’s a big thing in this community. I’m looking for ways to grow positively.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jenna Hanly, Senior

Auburn High School

What are you hoping to learn today or what are you hoping to see?

“The different opportunities that you have in manufacturing. It’s not all about construction. There’s other things that you can do. It has opened my mind into different possibilities for college.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alea Anliker, Karen Stoller, Marlys Strahm and Carla Strahm, Juniors

Prairie Meadows Private School

What are you most excited to learn about today?

“Just everything. We don’t know much about manufacturing, but learning what businesses do and what opportunities are available.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Mellies, Senior

Jackson Heights

Do you know anything about the manufacturers today and what are you hoping to learn from them?

“I don’t know any in particular. They look a little familiar. Really just to learn how they run their business, what they do in their business and the different parts of each one. I’m really looking for the ag business ones. That will go into my future.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Taylor, Freshman

Cornerstone Classical Academy

Do you know anything about any of the manufacturers today? If so, what are you most excited to learn about from them?

“I don’t really know that much about them, but I am just excited to see everything work.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jethro Steiner, Junior

Nemaha Central High School

Do you know anything about any of the manufacturers today? If so, what are you most excited to learn about?

“I know about NorthWind, because my dad works there, but I don’t really know what I’m excited to learn about. I’ll just walk around and see what interests me.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ike Tramp, Senior

Sabetha High School

What are you most excited to learn about from the manufacturers today?

“I’m just excited about their product, what they focus on, and how they build it and develop it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Miller, Senior

Axtell High School

Do you know anything about any of the manufacturers today? If so, what are you most excited to learn about?

“Definitely, about CW Mill and I hoping to learn about how the mill operates.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stormi Goudie, Junior

Holton High School

What are you most interested in learning during Manufacturing Day?

“Just to learn about how different manufacturing companies work. I’ve never been to one, so it will be interesting to really see all the stuff that goes on inside of it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silas Aberle, Freshman

Homeschool

What part of Manufacturing Day are you most looking forward to?

“I think I’m looking forward to going to KSi, and looking at what they have there.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trevor McNeely, Senior

Auburn High School

What are you most excited to learn about from the manufacturers today?

“I’m really excited to check out the welding company that is here, and to see what the work area is like.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Madalyn Carlson, Sophomore

Hiawatha High School

What are you most interested in learning during Manufacturing Day?

“Well, from last year, I came last year, and I want to see what has changed throughout all of the businesses, and see if anything has changed, and if its changed, what changed and why did it change.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ciara Atwood, Senior

Sabetha High School

What made you decide to come back to Manufacturing Day again this year?

“I still have an interest in manufacturing, and I think getting to know the companies again helps. And seeing if they have updated anything or if they have any new materials that I haven’t learned about yet, and then going and actually seeing that and hearing them talk about it again really helps.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brody Browning, Senior

Jackson Heights

What part of Manufacturing Day are you most looking forward to?

“I don’t really know what’s here, to be honest, but I think probably the tours.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sir Peek, Senior

Jackson Heights

What are you most excited to learn about during Manufacturing Day?

“I’m really excited to learn about future jobs.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abigail Porter, Junior

Sabetha High School

What are you most interested in learning during Manufacturing Day?

“I want to learn more about the manufacturing industries and the kind of stuff that they make because I honestly don’t know much about it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Logan Ploeger, Senior

Sabetha High School

What made you decide to come back to Manufacturing Day again this year?

“I’m interested to learn about the new developments these companies are making. AI and robotics have improved a lot since last year, and just to see how the companies are changing to fit the newer industry.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emma Kroeger, Junior

Axtell

What are you most interested in learning during Manufacturing Day?

“Well I want to be a vet, but I don’t know if there’s much here for that, but just to learn more about manufacturing plants, I guess.”

 

Teachers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kryndon Proffitt, Teacher, Jackson Heights

What are you hoping the students will get out of manufacturing day?

“I think a lot of places around here offer great opportunities, especially students who may not know what they want to go into yet.”