High School Students Learn About Manufacturing

Friday was known nationally as Manufacturing Day, and engineering students from Harry S. Truman High School in Bristol Township got a first-hand look inside a high-tech Bucks County manufacturing facility.

A busload of about 20 engineering students traveled from Bristol Township to IMET Corporation in Upper Southampton to learn about the importance of manufacturing and about the many careers it can offer. The company offers contract manufacturing services, prototyping and product development from it’s 16,000-square-foot Upper Southampton facility it moved to after outgrowing sites in Bristol Township and Newtown.

Tom Krol, president and CEO of IMET, welcomed the change to show the students about his company and the many opportunities engineering can offer in the job market.

“You can see this place isn’t dark and dirty like some people think about manufacturing. It’s clean and bright,” he told the students.

Truman engineering teacher Cosmo Di Liegro accompanied the students to the facility and on the tour of IMET’s manufacturing floor. IMET’s Vice President of Operations, Brian Dougherty walked the students through the various work stations, showing them how circuit boards are made, what certain equipment is used for and explaining why they needed to wear static electricity-reducing coats.

“This is a great opportunity for our students to see first-hand what a career in manufacturing entails,” said Truman Principal Lyndell Davis. “The prevailing perceptions of manufacturing may be inaccurate and outdated. Manufacturing is a lucrative and viable career path.”

Nationwide, roughly 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled in the next 10 years. The jobs, which can go unfilled due to lack of applicants, are often well paying and require skills that can be acquired at community colleges or trade schools.

Republican Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick in 2014 laid out a plan that would work to increase skilled workers that could fill manufacturing jobs. He’s also not alone, several Democratic and Republican elected officials have presented ideas to help fill the “skills gap.”

Krol said since growing IMET from the basement of a house in Trenton to its various and ever-expanding locations in Bucks County, he has had trouble hiring people to fill job openings.

“It’s not just finding people with the skills,” he said. “It’s also finding people who are just going to show up.”