INDEX Corporation welcomes students for MFG Day 2023

INDEX hosted approximately 300 local students for the MFG Day 2023 event held at its North American headquarters in Noblesville, Indiana. Throughout the day, the company welcomed groups from both Noblesville Schools and KIPP Indy Public Schools, providing young people with the opportunity to interact with technology and learn about career options within the manufacturing industry.

Upon arrival, students were welcomed by INDEX president and CEO, Cris Taylor, who shared his personal story of starting his career in an apprenticeship program and rising to serve as chief executive at multiple companies. Students were then split into small groups to participate in tours that provided exposure to multiple aspects of modern manufacturing. During these tours, young people learned about programming, simulation, additive manufacturing, and automation, as well as a variety of INDEX’s world-class machine tools.

Following their tours, students heard from Kevin Tretter and Will Adams about the breadth of career options within manufacturing. Celebrating his 21st anniversary with INDEX, Tretter started at the company within the service department and has risen to CFO. At the other end of spectrum, Adams is a recent high school graduate who interned at INDEX and will be traveling to Germany for a year-long apprenticeship at the company’s global headquarters. Students also had the chance to speak with multiple other young people who joined the company after completing internship programs.

“We really want students to come away from today with three key messages,” Taylor said. “First, modern manufacturing involves working with advanced technologies and is far different than the outdated stereotypes of dirty, physically demanding careers. Second, there is tremendous variety in the types of jobs available in manufacturing. And third, there are companies like INDEX that have invested heavily in programs designed to make it easy for young people to pursue manufacturing careers and support their long-term growth and success.”  

Several other local manufacturing companies participated in INDEX’s MFG Day event, including One Click Metal, Helmer Scientific and RZ Automation. This was INDEX’s third annual MFG Day event, and each year has seen significant growth in attendance.

A national day to educate current middle school and high school students about manufacturing careers, MFG Day takes place on the first Friday of October and hundreds of events are held concurrently across the country.