Associations participating in the Wood Industry Resource Collaborative (WIRC), of which AWFS is a founding member, are working with Industrial Strength Marketing on a campaign to increase awareness and improve the perception of careers in the wood industry. Industrial’s past projects include the “MFG Day” initiative with National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and a rebranding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) network. “We are excited to work with Industrial and feel confident that we are in good hands,” says AWFS Education Director Adria Salvatore, “Industrial has an impressive portfolio and is exclusively focused on the manufacturing industry. They understand our objectives[...]
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AWFS® is in support of the Promoting Apprenticeships through Regional Training Networks for Employers’ Required Skills (PARTNERS) Act, recently introduced by Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1) and Congressman Drew Ferguson (R-GA-3). The PARTNERS Act would help small business by creating a grant program to develop industry partnerships, work-based learning programs, and mentoring and support services for workers. Read more…[...]
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[caption id="attachment_12688" align="alignleft" width="349"] SWM donations for SkillsUSA California State winners.[/caption]
The Southern California chapter of the Society of Wood Manufacturing (SWM) recently held their annual holiday party and meeting. In lieu of a gift exchange, SWM members contributed tool donations which will become part of the Prize package for students in SkillsUSA California State Cabinetmaking and Introductory woodworking competitions. SkillsUSA is one of the largest national Career Technical Student Organizations serving students who are pursuing jobs in skilled trades. The Southern California SWM chapter organizes the woodworking competitions for the SkillsUSA CA Los Angeles Region and at the State level.[...]
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November 15, 2018, Anaheim, CA -- Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers® (AWFS®) was invited to participate in the 4th U.S.-China State and Provincial Education Leaders Dialogue: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), held in Washington D.C. October 30-31. The invitation was extended as a result of AWFS Education Director Adria Salvatore’s current role as Chair of the ACTE Business & Industry Advisory Group (BIAG).
Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, presented a welcome message to the group, highlighting the necessary “soft skills” and values that students can gain though CTE and the importance of education to the economy: “How we approach[...]
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A WoodIndustryEd.org user asks:
I would like to hear from secondary educators, please introduce yourselves and your programs. I'd like to have a place to network with other secondary educators in the woodworking field. Please comment introducing yourself and your program so we can get to know you!
So how about it, let's check in! Include where you're from (school, state) and something good that has happened in your program lately![...]
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You may have already seen that last week the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte published the highly anticipated 2018 update to their oft-referenced Manufacturing Skills Gap study. The need is even more intense than the last report in 2015.
You can download the full report and the synopsis, and see infographics here:
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/manufacturing/articles/future-of-manufacturing-skills-gap-study.html
And this article is a good summary: http://ww2.cfo.com/people/2018/11/for-manufacturers-skills-gap-keeps-widening/ Some highlights from the article/report:
“The (skills gap) problem is only expected to worsen. As many as 2.4 million jobs may go unfilled over the next 10 years, according to the study. That could put at risk $454 billion in manufacturing value — or 17% of forecasted[...]
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(AWFS held this webinar with CMTC on Tuesday, November 6, 2018)
WATCH THE WEBINAR RECORDING HERE
SEE THE PPT PRESENTATION
COMPLETE THE SMART MANUFACTURING ASSESSMENT
Description: Currently, we are witnessing a strong shift in customer behavior and expectations, which, in turn, is creating a radical long-term change in the relationship between customers and companies in the woodworking industry. Customers have a greater impact on how companies plan production, as their demands can be heard loud and clear — a result of cloud, mobile and social technologies. Customers are no longer in a position where they have no choice; rather, they’re in a position to inform[...]
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Reborn Cabinets Brings Together City of Anaheim, Vital Link, Local Schools and Organizations to Coordinate MFG Day Event and Job Fair
On Friday, October 5, 2018, over 300 local high school students toured Reborn Cabinets' headquarters facility in Anaheim, California for the company's third annual MFG Day event. The event was planned with the help of the City of Anaheim's "Manufacturing Month" campaign along with Vital Link, a local industry-education liaison group, and other industry and education organization representatives including CMTC and AWFS. In addition to a presentation and facility and showroom tour, Reborn hosted a job fair which welcomed local[...]
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MFG Day 2018 is Friday, October 5. This is a national campaign to increase student awareness of the manufacturing industry and careers. In June, AWFS® hosted a webinar on “How to Host A MFG Day Event”, you can watch the webinar recording here. Over 1,100 events are registered on the MFG Day event throughout the US, including events at AWFS® member companies Dynabrade, Mastercam, Mereen-Johnson, Stiles, and Weyerhaeuser, along with numerous woodworking, cabinetmaking, and furniture manufacturing companies. If you aren’t able to host an event this year, consider attending an event, and encourage local students and teachers to attend as well. Many post-secondary and technical schools are hosting[...]
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Anaheim, CA -- Sept 5, 2018 -- The Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers® (AWFS®) will host its 11th biennial Fresh Wood student furniture competition. The competition, which will be showcased at the 2019 AWFS® Fair, July 17-20, in Las Vegas, is open to high school and post-secondary students in accredited woodworking or related programs. Entry applications will be accepted until May 1, 2019.
The 2019 Special Theme category topic is “Sports and Games”. Projects in this category must be at least 50% wood or wood composite and need to relate to either a sport or a game. Students can enter[...]
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