MARYSVILLE — Honda manufacturing plants in Ohio, Indiana, Alabama and South Carolina celebrated National Manufacturing Day Friday, Oct. 2, by hosting its first-ever virtual manufacturing experience for students and teachers.
Previous Honda Manufacturing Day events typically included in-person plant tours, presentations and problem-solving simulations for students.
Hosting this year’s event required some creative thinking for the 10th annual Manufacturing Day, and Honda associates devised a virtual Manufacturing Day to share their manufacturing know-how with students from high schools, STEM academies, technical centers and two- and four-year colleges.
More than 80 schools were invited to take part in virtual activities Friday to showcase the many opportunities available through a career in manufacturing.
At Indian Lake High School, College and Career Readiness students gathered in the auditorium for a live Internet feed panel discussion with Honda associates from the Honda Transmission Manufacturing at Russells Point facility and others from Honda facilities all over the country. They answered questions, then led students on a virtual tour of HTM.
In recent years, Indian Lake High School students have had the opportunity to tour the Honda Transmission Manufacturing facility right next to the school district’s campus on or about the designated World Manufacturing Day on the first Friday in October.
“The threat of COVID-19 could not stop the know-how of Honda or the education that happens on World Manufacturing Day. Special thanks to the folks at HTM for making sure our students had a great World Manufacturing Day experience,” Indian Lake Schools officials said.
In addition to Honda Transmission Manufacturing, Honda plants taking part in Manufacturing Day activities also included: Honda of America Mfg. (Anna Engine Plant, East Liberty Auto Plant, Marysville Auto Plant), Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, Honda Manufacturing of Indiana and Honda of South Carolina Mfg.
The student participants learned about innovative processes used in Honda facilities to produce advanced products ranging from automobiles to aircraft.
“The future success of Honda, and society as a whole, relies on developing the next generation of people who are passionate about making and building things,” said Rick Schostek, American Honda Motor Co., Inc executive vice president. “Manufacturing Day is a great opportunity to shine a light on our industry, showcase our commitment to the next generation workforce and let society know about the outstanding careers and opportunities that exist in manufacturing.”
Honda supplemented the live video meetings with activities designed to mirror the problem-solving that takes place every day in the manufacturing setting.
In addition, Honda shared the popular EdHeads manufacturing video game with the schools. The game, which provides players with a number of manufacturing-based challenges to solve, has been played more than 620,000 times since it was created with Honda’s support in 2015.
Honda also established a Manufacturing Day website at https://hondamanufacturingday.com, which features videos about manufacturing and information about the many career opportunities available in the field, as well as a recording of the day’s live event.