October 10, 2016
By KRISTEN SWANN
Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce
LA VERGNE —The Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s Workforce Development department recently worked with Bridgestone Americas, Inc. to host the second annual manufacturing camp for juniors and seniors in Rutherford County.
Tennessee’s Commissioner for Economic and Community Development, Randy Boyd, visited the students and shared the importance of manufacturing to Tennessee’s economy.
“One in eight people in Tennessee work in manufacturing,” Boyd Said. He went on to tell the students, “When I was your age, I was working in a factory.”
Commissioner Boyd continued by explaining the importance of Rutherford County in Tennessee’s manufacturing landscape. He said that Tennessee is the nation’s largest automotive manufacturer and that Nissan in Smyrna makes more cars per year than any other auto manufacturer in the history of North America.
Bridgestone wants to share the message of Tennessee’s manufacturing tradition by hosting its annual manufacturing camp.
Fran Jones, Talent Development and Education with the Bridgestone La Vergne Plant, said, “This is our second year to celebrate national manufacturing day and the reason Bridgestone has such an interest in hosting it is we are trying to attract more kids to have an interest in a manufacturing career. Manufacturing gets a bad reputation for being dirty and hot and smelly, but we do activities with them that show them that it is a fun place to work.”
And Bridgestone, like many manufacturers, knows the importance of recruiting young talent.
“In 2009, we determined that 55 percent of our workforce was going to be eligible for retirement,” said Jones. “Now here we are six years later and we are seeing these employees leave the workforce in large numbers. So we have to replace this skilled workforce with other skilled workers. We need kids to choose manufacturing.”
Kristoff Souffront, a student at Riverdale High School and Cassady Morris, a student at Blackman High School both attended the camp.
Souffront said, “I learned about data and variations and what it takes to reduce cost and make better products. I learned how important tires are and all of the fundamentals surprised me a lot.”
Morris, who is interested in a career in industrial engineering, said, “I learned about the tire process and how they are made. I learned how important each worker is and how much they care about their workers.”
The Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce plans to continue to raise awareness of careers in manufacturing this week by taking students on field trips to some of the county’s biggest employers.
PHOTO / KRISTEN SWANN
Tennessee’s Commissioner for Economic and Community Development, Randy Boyd, visited Rutherford County students during Camp Bridgestone and shared the importance of manufacturing to Tennessee’s economy.