Allegion hosts eight 2021 MFG Day virtual field trips throughout October

Default Promo Image Alt

For the second consecutive year, Allegion opened its virtual doors for its annual Manufacturing Day events, leveraging digital capabilities to host educational online experiences. Allegion has participated in Manufacturing Day, a collaborative effort among U.S. manufacturers and supported by industry organizations like the National Association of Manufacturing (NAM), since 2015 – and this year was no different.

Throughout the month of October, Allegion hosted students, teachers and community officials at live “virtual MFG Day field trip” events across our U.S. operations, with content aimed to educate and inspire students on what a career in today’s manufacturing industry could look like.

This year, Allegion hosted eight events in total, representing 10 U.S. manufacturing facilities: Chino, California and Cincinnati, Ohio (a combined event for our Steelcraft Operations); Security, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; McKenzie, Tennessee (which hosted two events); Olathe, Kansas; Snoqualmie and Everett, Washington, and Perrysburg, Ohio (a combined event for our TGP, AD Systems and Brio Operations); and Princeton, Illinois.

In addition to inviting local schools to participate, media, government officials, suppliers and even Allegion employees attended the Microsoft Teams live events. Additionally, the events were recorded, meaning those who could not attend live still have the opportunity to watch and learn at a time that is convenient to them.

Instagram photo of MFG day - Ft. Lt Governor Suzanne Crouch of Indiana

We estimate our 2021 events have touched over 500 students already through live participation, with more expected to have watched the recordings shared by their teachers. Through additional community support and partners, as well as the fact that all of the events are now publicly available on YouTube, we expect to leverage them to touch hundreds – if not thousands – more.

In addition to student involvement, we had 28 government officials – across federal, state and local offices – actively engage in our virtual Manufacturing Day events by submitting video remarks (one wrote a letter), which were created special for our efforts and for the students participating. Staff members – a total of 16 – from a number of government offices also attended the live events. All in all, 19 Congressional officials, five governors, six state lawmakers, four mayors and two state organizations were represented with special remarks or as live attendees.

Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch of Indiana took to social media to share her thoughts on Allegion’s Manufacturing Day efforts, proclaiming, “Manufacturing is a huge industry in our state, in fact, Indiana has the highest concentration of manufacturing jobs in the nation. I was honored to share a quick message with Hoosier students, with the help of @allegionplc, to celebrate #ManufacturingDay and encourage future members of our workforce to join the industry as professionals.”

During the events, attendees went on a virtual tour of Allegion’s plants across the U.S., learned about the many opportunities for growth and apprenticeships at Allegion, heard first-hand experiences from Allegion employees in a variety of stages of their careers and learned about the many vibrant and valuable job opportunities available in manufacturing today in an employee panel discussion. Many events also featured storytelling and advice from special guests, such as Allegion CEO Dave Petratis or SVP of Global Operations and Integrated Supply Chain Cindy Farrer.

Cindy Farrer, SVP of Global Operations and Integrated Supply Chain

“We all know that 2020 and 2021 have been anything but typical due to the ongoing pandemic,” said Cindy. “Rather than letting these important efforts fall to the wayside, the Allegion team used its digital capabilities to transform our open houses into virtual field trips. In doing so, our company successfully struck the right balance of health and safety while still working to inspire the next generation of manufacturers across the U.S. As someone who has spent more than 30 years in the industry, experiencing the vibrant and valuable career opportunities firsthand, I couldn’t be prouder of the fact that Allegion maintained this long-held commitment to the future innovators and creators of manufacturing.”

Again this year, local media in several markets covered the events:

· National Manufacturing Day helps showcase the industry to students (KRDO-TV / ABC; Colorado Springs, CO)

· Nationwide Manufacturing Day helps college students showcase the trade (Ed News Colorado; Colorado Springs, CO)

· Allegion’s Republic Doors and Frames to Host 2021 Virtual Field Trips for Students (The McKenzie Banner; McKenzie, TN)

· Allegion’s Local TGP and AD Systems Operations to Host Virtual Field Trip for Students (425 Magazine; Snoqualmie, WA)

· Allegion hosts virtual Manufacturing Day event for area high school students (Bureau County Republican News; Princeton, Illinois)

All of Allegion’s 2021 Manufacturing Day events can now be viewed on our YouTube channel. Click here to check out the playlist.