Businesses can take steps to expose the upcoming generation to what they do so they realize that there are good jobs available in manufacturing. Sarah Wolters, Co-Owner
For the last few March breaks, Kevin and Sarah Wolters, owners of The Machining Center in Quinte West, have put on a free, one-day activity that allows children ages four and up to find out how items are made. The lively activity is held right at their facility among all their equipment – The Machining Center pauses its operations for that one day.
Kevin and Sarah invited customers and staff to bring their children or grandchildren to the activity, and then they sent the invitation into the wider community via the Quinte West Chamber of Commerce and the Quinte Manufacturers Association.
This year, 85 children came, and they all went home with a metal toolbox they were involved in creating. The children, accompanied by a parent (ratio one adult for two children), rotate station by station in groups of 10, discovering along the way how machining and fabrication works.
There are eight stations:
- Design: The engineer goes over the design of the toolbox and gives the group leader – chosen by the engineer – the drawing package. It’s the same kind of package that would be used in a real work situation. The kids bring the package to each station so they can follow the drawing step-by-step.Each participant is given a child-friendly, 3D-printed screwdriver that they’ll use to assemble their toolbox at the end of the session. It’s the first tool for their new toolbox. The screwdrivers are printed ahead of time, so in order to demonstrate the cool things the 3D printer can do, the printer is in operation – and it’s printing the Hulk!
- Laser cutter: Participants dive into the machining part of the process as they watch the fiber laser cutter cut the flat layout of the toolbox. The laser is completely enclosed – the kids watch from the safety of step stools by the enclosure’s windows.
- Laser engraving: The fiber laser sits in a safely enclosed space, and the kids watch through a window as it engraves their names on their toolboxes.
- CNC (Computer Numerical Control) mill: Participants find out what a mill is and how it’s used. They watch as the mill creates the parts they need to attach the handle to their toolbox. Then they are all given little hand files, and it’s up to them to remove the burrs.
- Lathe: Participants get their handle from the live tooling lathe. The staff at this station added to the excitement of the day – and also revealed the kind of camaraderie and friendly rivalry that can exist in a workplace – by bribing the kids with candy to cheer, “lathes are the best!” as loud as they could.
- CNC brake press: Participants watch the flat layout get bent into the shape.
- Welding: The kids complete the spot welding with a welder assisting them, making sure the positions are correct.
- Assembly: Participants gather around a table to do the final assembly of their toolbox: hinges, clips, and latch.
The whole activity takes 90 minutes per group.
The Wolters put on this March Break activity to show their appreciation to their customers and staff. The staff loves doing this activity, and it’s clear that so do Kevin and Sarah. The activity also allows the company’s customers to become better acquainted with the business and see the whole scope of their offerings.
But Kevin and Sarah consider the biggest benefit of the activity to be the investment in the future workforce. Sarah says, “It’s helping us expose kids to our industry and show them how many different types of jobs there are available.”
“We rarely shy away from things”
Any industrial region, in order to thrive, needs robust support industries as well as ones that are creative and run on an entrepreneurial energy. Those industries exist all over Bay of Quinte – The Machining Center among them.
The Machining Center is a custom machining, design, and fabrication centre. The team of 20 employees at The Machining Center love doing new things, taking on new challenges, and problem solving. Any industry in the region that needs a regular part made or something completely new created will find a solution there. The company has a variety of high-end equipment that allows them to take on high-precision tasks with great efficiency.
The company is flexible, and they cater to a lot of different industries – from tiny parts needed in the aerospace sector to broken equipment on “Farmer Joe’s” combine all the way up to extreme accuracy and documentation required in nuclear sectors.
Support for Local Business in Bay of Quinte
An equipment-centred business like The Machining Center has high training needs – everyone who uses the equipment has to know how to use it well. The company gets 100% funding for training from the Elevate Plus program, an initiative of Quinte Economic Development Commission (QEDC) in collaboration with Loyalist College and the Quinte Manufacturers Association. Elevate Plus even funded team-building and leadership training.
Learn more about how the Quinte Economic Development Commission supports businesses like The Machining Center in Bay of Quinte.
