Manufacturing Day 2021

Each year, Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) is held on the first Friday in October in order to show students, parents, and the public what modern manufacturing is all about.  The fourth industrial revolution is rapidly changing our world. New advanced manufacturing technologies bring about whole new careers, requiring a skilled workforce interested in pursuing them. From bioengineers, to data analysts to robotics technicians, and all of the operations in between, there is a place for everyone in manufacturing!

Having long been the cornerstone of the American economy, manufacturing continues to provide highly skilled and highly paid jobs that create thriving communities. Still, the diversity of existing opportunities and the corresponding career potential that accompanies those opportunities is too often overlooked or misunderstood which is why each year, Manufacturing Day celebrates and showcases both the work, and many of the individuals, that comprise the US manufacturing sector.

At this year’s Manufacturing Day, NextFlex aired a new video showing how manufacturing solves real-world problems. NextFlex engineers will identify a problem and design a solution using Flexible Hybrid Electronics! After the video, students and teachers were able to ask the engineers questions about advanced manufacturing and the benefits of working in the manufacturing sector.

About NextFlex

NextFlex is one of eight Manufacturing Innovation Institutes established by the DoD Manufacturing Technology Program, is a consortium of 100 members with the shared goal of advancing the manufacture of flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) in the U.S. Since its formation in 2015, the NextFlex community of technologists, educators, problem solvers and manufacturers have come together to collectively facilitate innovation, narrow the manufacturing workforce gap and promote sustainable manufacturing ecosystems to further advance U.S. manufacturing across a range of technology areas.

In addition to the innovation work NextFlex leads with its members, it also operates a pilot-scale manufacturing line at its headquarters in San Jose, California. Known as the Technology Hub, this state-of-the-art manufacturing facility designs, prototypes, assembles and tests flexible hybrid electronics devices and systems that are transforming electronics by taking them “out of the box.” FHEs are lighter weight, thinner and smaller, faster and less expensive to make, and can bend, stretch or conform to any shape thereby revolutionizing electronics for both military and commercial applications in medical wearables, structural health monitoring, RF and communications, aerospace and more.