A personal view: Why are we creating a Disney World of production? | So Good News

As the story goes, Walt Disney dreamed of Disneyland while watching his daughters ride the carousel on a bench in Los Angeles. a place for the community; A place to learn something. A place for people to imagine. He decided there to build a park where he could cross a single stream that would give rise to fantasy.

If you can humor me, For the next 70 years, I believe we are doing something with a similar goal for manufacturing.

last week, A factory that is much more than just a building, like Walt and the carousel. production innovation, We officially opened the Technology and Career Center. It is a place to architect the destiny of our business. A vision for MAGNET’s manufacturing future in Northeast Ohio. Our goal is to transform the region into a global hub for smart manufacturing, create 30,000 jobs and raise our GRP to $40 billion by 2032. The manufacturing center is where we will work together.

It is different from other places in Myanmar. It is a prototyping laboratory; factory park museum work place school, It is a technology accelerator and hub. We take over 3,000 K-12 students each year. We will recruit many current and potential manufacturing employees to experience and learn that the industry is a fun and rewarding career choice not just for our country. Manufacturing is no longer confined to dark, dingy warehouses – these are high-tech, high-paying professions. Here, Students and companies interact with the latest technologies in Industry 4.0 technology; collaborative robots; real-time data monitoring; Experience interacting with augmented reality and the Internet of Things. You can too – tours of our facility are free and open to the public.

Although many manufacturers have planted their roots far from the inner city. Our building is located in the heart of Cleveland in the Innovation District in the historically disadvantaged Hough neighborhood. Our rationale is twofold. Not only are we excited about the potential for greater visibility and production through this elevated space, but we envision it being embedded in the neighborhood in a symbiotic way. for example, We revived a school that had been abandoned for years and built a large STEM-themed playground to attract people.

Hough is a predominantly black neighborhood that gives producers access to a long-unattracted talent pool. By welcoming our neighbors to our new home; We hope to create passion for our industry while placing people of color in manufacturing jobs—good jobs that pay an average of $70,000. They can become the future leaders of our industry, and that starts with opening our doors.

State-of-the-art machines and facilities are not just for show. The facility is built with a 20,000-square-foot prototyping lab, and our engineering expertise helps small and medium-sized manufacturers access advanced equipment to build and launch new products and companies along the way. Silicon Valley incubators are for tech startups—it’s for makers. to bring their ideas to life and to market; It’s what helps them expand their business.

Why is all this so important? We are at an important turning point for American manufacturing. With the pandemic and geopolitical turmoil wreaking havoc on our supply chains; There is a rush to bring more manufacturing back to the US, as well as build additional capacity to handle rising demand with modern technology. Federal grant dollars coming in the form of the CHIPS Act will help. The end goal is to become less dependent on other countries and create a more resilient supply chain here at home to withstand future disruptions. Northeast Ohio is positioned to play a fundamental role in the future. But that will only happen if we provide the manufacturing ecosystem with the tools and resources to create thriving and viable companies.

It all starts with getting people more excited about manufacturing and seeing how it can make their lives better. It doesn’t put it on a roller coaster like Walt, but you can certainly build it if you want.

Karp is president and CEO of MAGNET, a manufacturing advocacy and growth network.