Students touring Beatrice-area businesses on Manufacturing Day

BEATRICE - It’s Manufacturing Day….and students from Beatrice and Freeman Public Schools will be able to get a close-up look at four local businesses…..Rare Earth Salts, Precise Fabrication, Neapco and Landmark Snacks.
"They're excited. They want to get students in the doors and see what they have to offer. With last year, not having one...it's just a great opportunity to get more kids in this year." Heidi McClintock is Marketing Director for NGage….Gage Area Growth Enterprise. She says over 60 students are expected to participate throughout the day….in an event that will also be held next Wednesday with Diller-Odell students, and possibly a second area school.
Executive Director of NGage, Trevor Lee says there’s a lot of opportunities with the local manufacturing base.
"I think the conversation has shifted around the kitchen table. We're seeing higher enrollments at our community colleges. Historically, the message in our homes and around our schools has been you must leave, and never come back, to be successful...and that manufacturing jobs are hard and laborious and dirty. That couldn't be further from the truth. Manufacturing presents opportunities for young people to perhaps stay in their hometowns....at a minimum, develop very tangible and marketable skills. And, to do so at little to no, if any college loan debt...and to hit the job market also immediately after high school, at or above the median wages in our community."
Manufacturing in Gage County accounts for almost a quarter of the wages… some $18 million annually….as part of the second largest economic sector in the state. McClintock says it should be a great learning experience for students, seeing manufacturing up close.
"I think a lot of them just don't know what to expect. So, I think its just a good eye opener for all of them. A lot of them have maybe family who's worked in manufacturing but maybe not the ones we're going to see. We have a wide variety."
Lee says there’s been a huge growth in automation in manufacturing in the past decade…a trend he expects will continue with low unemployment and job participation rates. He says finding enough qualified workers remains a concern for major businesses in the area.
"I do know that several of our manufacturers....not all, but several are at or above the pre-Covid employment numbers. For us, it's a matter of keeping our people here in Gage County or attracting new people to Gage County to fill those voids that have resulted from growth in various sectors, including manufacturing."
Lee says the new participant this year among companies is Rare Earth Salts. He says one goal is to move around the opportunity for additional companies to meet with students about career opportunities. The four businesses participating in Manufacturing Day employ about 380 persons.