Tuscarawas County camp offers manufacturing insights

A manufacturing camp will come to Buckeye Career Center this summer. The three-day event for local students in seventh grade through eighth grade is designated the Tuscarawas County Dale Lauren Foland Manufacturing Camp.

It will offer a look at many area manufacturing companies, showing the varied types of work to be found in such an environment. The camp will run July 9, 10 and 11 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“This is the longest running and certainly the largest such camp in Ohio,” said Mike Hovan, chief operating officer at Lauren International, a key sponsor of the camp. “Kids can really explore the many opportunities in the manufacturing field.”

The camp began in 2016 and will offer 27 mentoring and sponsoring local organizations, most of them manufacturers.

The camp costs $50 per student, and sign-up is accomplished via a link at the event’s Facebook page. Search for Dale Lauren Foland Manufacturing Camp to find it quickly. Included will be breakfast, lunch, a snack and a T-shirt for each day.

The days will begin at 8 a.m. with breakfast, followed by splitting up into four groups.

“Each group will move to a classroom for an hour to get some hands-on experience with processes, safety, logistics and quality control,” Hovan said. “They will then switch rooms every hour, rotating through all four experiences.”

After lunch students will board buses to visit two sponsoring manufacturing firms, again switching halfway through the afternoon.

“All the kids will get to visit both companies each day,” Hovan said.

They will return to Buckeye Career Center after their visit for a snack, with each day winding up at about 3 p.m. A small graduation ceremony will take place the final day of the camp.

Hovan said the camp is a good way to help students understand the varied possibilities offered by manufacturing companies.

“You might think it’s all about standing at a big machine all day, but there are a lot of different kinds of jobs out there in manufacturing including many opportunities here in Tuscarawas County. There’s robotics, HR, safety, accounting, all these varied occupations.”

Hovan said questionnaires provided to students before and after the camp often reveal a big jump in interest. “At the beginning interest in working for a manufacturer runs at about 20%. At the end it’s up to about 70-80%”

Participating companies include Allied Machine and Engineering, Dover Chemical Corporation, Progressive Foam, Dover Hydraulics, Kent State University, Meteor Sealing Systems, The Timken Company, Fastenal, Kurz Kasch, Kraton, Simona Boltaron, Eleet Cryogenics, Gradall, Metallus, Battle Motors, and Extreme Trailers.

The camp is named for Dale Lauren Foland, founder of Lauren Manufacturing and later chairman of the board emeritus at Lauren International. Foland was instrumental in developing Starlight School, the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts and the new technology wing for Kent State Tuscarawas, and he was an active member of the Community Improvement Corporation of Tuscarawas County and the local Chamber of Commerce.

“There are many opportunities in manufacturing in Tuscarawas County,” Hovan said. “This camp is a great way to learn about those possibilities, and the kids have a good time over those three days.”

Space for the camp is limited. Buckeye Career Center is at 545 University Drive NE in New Philadelphia.