Tampa Bay Regional Manufacturers Prepare for Oct. 4 National Manufacturing Day in Florida

TAMPA, Fla. - Sept. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- On Oct. 4, as part of national manufacturing day (http://madeinflorida.org/manufacturing-day/) in Florida, 2000 students will tour 66 high-tech manufacturing facilities across Florida. The Made in Florida (http://www.madeinflorida.org/) tours are made possible by FLATE (http://www.fl-ate.org/) (Florida Advanced Technological Education), the National Science Foundation Center of Excellence at Hillsborough Community College in Brandon, the Manufacturers Association of Florida, Bay Area Manufacturers Association and Sarasota Manatee Manufacturers Association, and manufacturers/educators across the state. The tours celebrate the state’s more than 14,000 manufacturers across Florida, and will serve as an educational opportunity for students to expand knowledge about and improve perception about high-tech careers & educational pathways in manufacturing, in Florida.

Industry tours for  Greater Tampa Bay region include:

Hillsborough County
Tampa Bay Tech to TAW
Gaither & East Lake High School to Southern Manufacturing Technologies
Greco Middle School to Chromalloy
McLane Middle School to Vulcan Machines
Robinson & King high schools to Sypris Electronics
Tomlin Middle School to Plastipak Holdings, Inc.
Middleton High School to Heat Pipe Technology Inc.

Pinellas County
Meadowlawn Middle School to Jabil
Northeast High School to DRS Laurel Technologies
Calvary Christian School to Bausch and Lomb
Osceola High School to H. & S. Swansons’ Tools Company
East Lake High School to Southern Manufacturing Technologies, ConMed Linvatec, American Tool & Machine, Ventel Plastics and ValPak
St Pete College Forum on Oct. 3rd, 2013: Open to the Public

Sarasota /Manatee County
Lakewood Ranch and Bayshore high schools to Sun Hydraulics
Booker High School to PGT Industries

In Pasco and Hernando counties, Accuform Signs, Emery Thompson, Alumi-Guard, PharmaWorks, Micro Matic, and Bauer have joined FLATE to organize tours in the region. In Marion County SPX Flow Technology, E-One, Quality Banner, Winco, Goldenflake, ClosetMaid and Townley have taken the lead in hosting tours for local students at their facilities.

For local/Florida based manufacturing day events, visit the “Made in Florida (http://madeinflorida.org/manufacturing-day/)” site at www.madeinflorida.org. For more information, or to schedule an interview on statewide Manufacturing Day activities, contact Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org/813.259.6578, and Desh Bagley, FLATE outreach manager at bagley@fl-ate.org or (813) 253-7838.