Making Manufacturing Day Memorable

variety of processing equipment and software?

Marel has invested in engineering support and has diverse capabilities to produce parts and equipment. Our highly skilled labor force allows us to make modifications early in the production process to perform the work as “standard” in our downstream operations, turning the customization of parts or equipment into standard work. Quick changeover is key to our success, and our machine shop is a prime example. We’ve applied Lean manufacturing to our scheduling, ensuring our sequencing limits changeover where possible, and have put automation in place to further reduce time and labor. Applying these principles helps limit any overproduction, making better use of labor and materials in the process.

How do you handle field service and training with so many locations producing equipment?

Using North America as an example, Marel has a team of over 250 field service engineers (FSE) spread throughout North America. Each new FSE trains at our Kansas City office and then proceeds to the field to work alongside an experienced FSE. It takes up to 12 months to fully train our FSEs with additional assistance from Europe as needed.

Are your FSEs multilingual?

Yes, many of them are multilingual, with Spanish being the most prominent. However, we have some FSEs proficient in Dutch, Islandic, and Danish.

Once a customer issues a P.O., what happens next?

We launch an internal project kickoff meeting to align all Marel stakeholders on the actions needed to deliver a solution for our customer. Shortly after that, the project manager will contact the customer to align the installation, commissioning, and training steps that we will take. The scope of the project is the largest contributor to delivery. Individual pieces of equipment have a relatively short lead time, while an entire system or a greenfield project includes the customer site preparation and installation team in the project timeline. A project team will coordinate with the customer and contractors at each phase to ensure all parties are kept up to date.

What’s the process for Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT)?

We’ve had to become creative in recent years to perform FATs, and we can now do them virtually as well as onsite. Marel can accommodate a customer acceptance and perform our own, inclusive of conformance, standard work, and control systems checks.

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Making Manufacturing Day Memorable

How OEMs can raise awareness for the industry as a whole to spark excitement for future generations.

Liz Cuneo, Contributing Writer

▲ Students on Manufacturing Day do quality control checks on LED lighting systems on the factory floor at LumaSmart, a lighting manufacturer in Michigan. Photo courtesy of National Association of Manufacturers

This year, the Manufacturing Institute’s Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) is celebrating its tenth year. Held annually on the first Friday in October, with events that continue throughout the month, MFG Day aims to show a behind-the-scenes look at the reality of modern manufacturing careers “by encouraging companies and educational institutions around the nation to open their doors to students, parents, teachers, and community leaders.” “The main goal is to raise awareness of manufacturing and the many opportunities for young people in various communities,” says Herb Grant, vice president of program execution at The Manufacturing Institute.

Through open houses and factory tours, manufacturers can show the public (and future workforce) what it is they make, how their operations run, and the ins and outs of working at the facility. This is especially important as the labor gap continues to widen within the high-skilled, hightech, and high-paying manufacturing jobs.

“The challenge today is that there are more than 800,000 open manufacturing jobs in the U.S. By the end of the decade, we’re on track to need four million more people in the manufacturing workforce,” Grant says. Driving this skills gap is a healthy economy, growth of U.S.- based manufacturing, and the great resignation (where the last two years has seen more people leave their careers than ever before). Plus, there’s growing competition for talent as more career options become available.

There’s also an obstacle related to industry image. “There’s a misperception that manufacturing is dark, dirty, and dangerous. That’s not accurate. The industry is hightech, clean, innovative, and safe. That’s what these tours prove,” says Grant.

The importance of MFG Day

In 2021, The Manufacturing Institute reported that more than 584 events were held on MFG Day, which were OEMhosted events that were either in person demonstrations, factory tours, or online events. There were a reported 101