With more than 66 years of innovations spanning linear motion to bread trays to midget racing cars, Bud has solved a wide range of problems and made things work better for us all. With a mind that is always in motion, Bud acquired multiple patents, ran a successful company for decades and is still pursuing new ideas and solutions.
Beware! There have been reports of “Chocolate Unicorns” roaming the halls of Bishop-Wisecarver Group (BWG). The sightings were confirmed on December 12 when more than 75% of the company’s employees gathered to play games as a benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. With seven teams competing in a range of minute long events, the competition was fierce as the players wanted to raise and donate money to help the children at the hospital.
January is National Mentoring Month – a great way to promote the benefits and needs of mentoring in our country. If you have read through even a few of the Bishop-Wisecarver Group (BWG) blog posts, it is easy to see we place a company-wide focus on mentoring, especially in STEAM-related activities for students. It’s a commitment of time, money and effort embraced by the leadership and employees to help students learn about STEAM-related opportunities, feel encouraged to pursue careers in these areas, and help build confidence that they already have connections willing to support their efforts.
Our final in a blog series about Manufacturing Day 2016 features a Q&A with Mark Orcutt, Communications and Outreach Manager of the East Bay Leadership Council (EBLC), who participated in one of the Bishop-Wisecarver Group (BWG) tours. Mark emphasizes that “more than one third of all jobs in the California Bay Area are with businesses who either make or move goods” – and that means manufacturing.
That also means a large number of employment opportunities! Hosting Manufacturing Day is one way BWG works with groups like EBLC to help educate the community on the great career options available locally.
“The most important thing we can do is show young people, teachers and parents what modern manufacturing looks like and introduce them to those working in manufacturing to show the wide range of career paths.” Todd Boppell, Chief Operating Officer, National Association of Manufacturers
This quote summarizes the importance of events like Manufacturing Day and their potential for long-lasting impact. Bishop-Wisecarver hosted two Manufacturing Day events late last year and wanted to share comments from a Q&A we had with Todd Boppell, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
With a corporate-wide emphasis on supporting STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education efforts, Bishop-Wisecarver Group is active in numerous student-based events both locally and nationally. This past month, we had the unique opportunity of combining some of these efforts and groups in the same place! Discussions of STEM, robots, pirates and tigers were mentioned throughout the day and it wasn’t because Halloween was coming. When BWG opened its doors for the national Manufacturing Day event this year, we welcomed two groups of FIRST robotics teams to our plant. BWG has sponsored both of these teams in their incredible work with the FIRST program and now had the opportunity to enhance their learning in the world of manufacturing.
This year, BWG actually had two Manufacturing Days as there were so many people wanting to attend the tours. We hosted groups on October 7 and October 29 and visitors included high school students from the East Bay and Silicon Valley, national and local manufacturing group officers, elected officials and community members. Sessions included a plant tour, 3D printer demonstration and a panel discussion which included a Q&A with employees.
Remember your first job interview? Did that memory just make you cringe and groan? Did you know how to answer the questions, look professional and think quickly all while not showing sweat? The Pittsburg, California Chamber of Commerce and Pittsburg High School understand the challenges of first interviews and want students to look back on this time as a key to their success. One that includes smiles - not groans.
When I mention that I work in the manufacturing industry, many people are genuinely surprised. They don’t realize manufacturing is still an incredibly large and growing – yes, growing – industry that is desperately trying to find enough workers to fill current and projected openings and the wages and benefits are usually higher than average.
“What are your plans after graduation?” It’s a question heard often this time of year as high school students are finishing tests, signing yearbooks and making plans for the next chapter in their lives. Do they choose college, tech school, career or travel? Do they have enough information to help make such choices?
