Meet Temple and the Temple Chamber to Celebrate the Local Manufacturing Industry

Meet Temple and the Temple Chamber of Commerce are proud to partner for the second annual Temple Manufacturing Day. Manufacturing Day celebrates local manufacturers with a Job Fair on National Manufacturing Day (MFG Day), October 7, 2022, at Workforce Solutions of Central Texas.

In addition to the job fair this year, Manufacturing Day will take over the whole first week of October with an official proclamation ceremony on Oct. 3, Temple ISD student tours throughout the week, and will cap off with a celebration music event at Santa Fe Plaza the evening of Oct. 7. The celebration will continue with spotlights  of partnering manufacturers throughout October on Meet Temple and Temple Chamber of Commerce social media platforms. 

Since its beginning in 2012, MFG Day highlights modern manufacturing careers, dispels myths of the public image of manufacturing, and is an opportunity to energize a future pipeline of skilled workers.

Temple is home to 130 manufacturing establishments including the world’s leading producers of everything from engineered surfaces (Wilsonart) to Hefty® Waste Bags (Reynolds Consumer Products) to school and office furniture (MooreCo Inc.). These companies support nearly 6,600 jobs locally and drive the growing manufacturing industry, with industry employment up 28% between 2010 and 2020. 

“While our work focuses on attracting new manufacturers to Temple, our work just as equally focuses on supporting those manufacturers who already call Temple home,” said Amanda Carlson, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Temple Economic Development Corporation. “Through our talent attraction and retention initiative, Meet Temple, we work to increase the funnel of people considering a career in Temple.”

The Temple workforce is supported by technically skilled veterans from nearby Fort Hood, robust Career and Technical Education (CTE) Manufacturing Pathways at area high schools, and graduates from STEM-focused training or degree programs from eight regional higher education institutions.

“With a strong manufacturing sector there is demand for a skilled workforce,” noted Whitney Theriot, Vice President of the Temple Chamber of Commerce. “Temple is fortunate to have existing pipelines to grow talent through CTE programming, training for incumbent workers to re-skill or upskill through Temple College, and proximity to Fort Hood. The MFG Day Job Fair, in collaboration with Workforce Solutions of Central Texas, connects the dots to career opportunities locally.”

Meet Temple and the Temple Chamber of Commerce hope the concentrated effort to create awareness about the local manufacturing industry through MFG Day/Week will inspire a new generation of manufacturers in Temple.

Partnering manufacturers for the 2022 MFG Day initiative include MooreCo, Inc., Palladio Industries, Inc., Reynolds Consumer Products, Temple Machine Shop, and Wilsonart.