Times Reporter.com - Tuscarawas County Students Get First-hand Look at Area Manufacturing Plants

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By Jon Baker

Clad in bright yellow T-shirts, 32 area students trooped through the plant of Tusco Display in Gnadenhutten on Tuesday to get an inside look at how a 21st century manufacturing facility operates.

The guide for one group was Mike Lauber, Tusco's CEO, who explained what work was being done at each stop on the tour.

Later, he told them about internship opportunities at Tusco and noted that many manufacturers are willing to pay for an employee's college education if that person is willing to work for their company.

The students were participants in the four-day Dale Lauren Foland Tuscarawas County Manufacturing Camp, which ends Friday. The camp is named for Dale Foland, founder of Lauren International, who died earlier this year.

The kids, who will be starting seventh or eighth grade this year, come from the county's public schools, as well as Catholic schools and students who are home-schooled.

Each morning this week, they'll attend classes at Buckeye Career Center in New Philadelphia, and in the afternoon, tour a manufacturing plant in the county.

On Tuesday, they also went through the Marsh Industries plant in New Philadelphia. Later this week, they will visit Allied Machine & Engineering and Meteor Sealing Systems in Dover, Provia Door in Walnut Creek, SUPERB Industries in Sugarcreek and Lauren International's Drone Division in New Philadelphia.

"The main purpose of our camp is to promote a career path in manufacturing, to let the children and parents know that there are so many different types of jobs within the walls of a manufacturing plant," said Erika Harris-Metzger, marketing director for Lauren.

The program came about when the office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, contacted the Tuscarawas County commissioners about starting a camp. Commissioner Chris Abbuhl, Buckeye Superintendent Bob Alsept and Harry Eadon, executive director of the Economic Development and Finance Alliance of Tuscarawas County, discussed it, and then got Lauren and Mike Hovan, its chief operating officer, involved. The camp is one of the first in the state.

Lauren officials suggested naming it after Foland as a way to honor him.

"Dale would have absolutely loved to see that kids were learning about manufacturing," Harris-Metzger said.

One of the instructors Tuesday was Brian Marsh, CEO of Marsh Industries, who taught the students about safety. The other was Lauber, who taught a class on leadership.

"It was awesome," Marsh said. "The kids had a great time. We ran safety first because all of the kids need to learn how to act in a plant. And they need to see what we do for our associates on a daily basis to keep them safe and send them home like we receive them."

Alie Grove, a seventh-grader at Welty Middle School in New Philadelphia, enjoyed the safety class.

"We were learning about safety, and they caught a little thing on fire," she said. "We had to use a fire extinguisher to put it out."

Also attending was Tyler McConnell from Pennsylvania. Foland was his great-uncle.

He liked touring the manufacturing plants. "It's really interesting and fun to discover what they do," he said.

Harris-Metzger said the program has been a success.

"It has been due 100 percent to the fact that Buckeye and Kent State Tuscarawas have been huge supporters of this," she said. "Every single manufacturer that has sponsored has gone above and beyond. The amount of hours they have taken out of their time to plan this event is mind-blowing. They have truly put so much time and energy into this."

The program will conclude Saturday with the Tuscarawas County Dale Lauren Foland Manufacturing Festival. The free event will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Kent Tuscarawas.

Attendees will have the opportunity to visit interactive exhibits hosted by local manufacturers, build radio-controlled airplanes and view student projects from the manufacturing camp.

Activities will conclude with a hot air balloon launch at 3 p.m.

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