LOCAL

Kids in quality control as manufacturing camp offers experience

Chris Balusik
Chillicothe Gazette

CHILLICOTHE - Malachi Robinson paced the length of a 10-person assembly line Thursday, watching its workers sort the components of a solar car to be placed at their workstations.

Serving as quality control manager, Robinson noticed a black rubber piece had been sorted into a container meant for screws and quickly made mention of it to the line's leader and the problem was corrected.

For most people working an assembly line, such an experience is one played out on a regular basis when they punch the time clock and assume their role in the assembly process. For Robinson and the 30 other area fifth- through eighth-graders taking part in a three-day manufacturing camp conducted at Pickaway-Ross Career and Technology Center, it was the first glimpse into a potential career option they may want to consider.

Preston Newberry, right, passes an unfinished solar car down the assembly line to Kagen Leasure, middle, so Leasure can work on the solar-powered car as it progresses down the assembly line during a manufacturing camp hosted by Pickaway-Ross and is part of United Way’s Map Your Future program.

"It's something that we can start at the earliest stages of getting kids involved in the basic principles of manufacturing, the basic principles of engineering, and really get their hands and their minds starting to think about those types of jobs and then we won't have the problem we have right now (with the skills gap)," said Josh Kinnison, robotics, engineering and manufacturing technologies instructor for Pickaway-Ross Joint Vocational School. 

The local manufacturing camp is one of more than a dozen taking place this summer that have been organized by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's office in collaboration with local schools, manufacturers, and other organizations in each community. In Ross County, partners include Pickaway-Ross, Kenworth, the Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Luke Feeney's office, the United Way of Ross County and the United Way's Map Your Future program.

The curriculum for the camp is created on the local level for its message to speak to local needs.

"We wanted students to see what manufacturing is all about, the different types of equipment used, the engineering thought processes and also a real-world assembly project so they could see exactly what goes into making an assembly and manufacturing environment work," Kinnison said. 

JJ LaRue puts the tires on a soon to be completed solar-powered car as it progresses down the assembly line so students can get real world experience to what it is like to be part of the manufacturing process.

Toward that end, students had the opportunity for some real-world glimpses into manufacturing in the form of a tour of Kenworth and a visit to the Pickaway-Ross RAMTEC center, where they had a chance to get hands-on with some of the center's robotics equipment. They also got the chance to become part of an assembly line themselves, on which they each had a role with the responsibility to produce 10 small solar-powered cars within 30 minutes, and then finished the week putting Vex robots through several tasks.

Robinson, as quality control manager for the assembly line project, helped monitor the three assembly lines to make sure they were kept clean, that parts were sorted correctly and that the workers remained on task. Saying one of his teachers suggested he attend the camp, his face lit up when asked what he thought of the tour of the RAMTEC center.

"That was cool," the sixth-grader said, adding that he has an interest in engineering.

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The manufacturing camps, which have been adding communities since their inception, are part of a growing movement to expose students of middle school age to various career opportunities. The Map Your Future program does that through classroom work, guest speakers and visits to local workplaces like Kenworth and Adena Regional Medical Center, while an inaugural nursing camp at Adena a couple of weeks ago also provided the chance for students to receive CPR certification.

While part of that push is helping students find areas of interest at an earlier age to help guide their high school class scheduling, it also supports local businesses and industries as they try to attract a future workforce to fill needs in their organizations.

"Manufacturing is one of our state's most important industries, but too often, our companies can't find workers with the right skills while our students don't realize all the opportunities available to them," Brown said. "We need today's Ohio's students to realize all the potential careers they could have in Ohio manufacturing, and that's why, for six years now, my office has put on summer manufacturing camps."