Each year, the first Friday in October is dedicated as “Manufacturing Day” to recognize the significant strides modern manufacturing has made in advancing the economy and providing job security.
mk North America, a conveyor system designer, and manufacturer, celebrated the day by hosting an appreciation event for its employees, and announced an expansion to support recent growth.
Despite challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturer said it has increased jobs in the last year and is currently expanding its buildings to accommodate that growth.
“We have increased our staffing levels by 26 percent over the past year as we grow momentum around our products and services,” said mk North America’s human resources and accounting manager, Deanna Ridgway. “Twenty of our current employees started with us in 2021 and we have another 11 positions currently open which we plan to fill by the end of the year. Much of our hiring success comes by way of referrals from current employees which demonstrates their confidence in our strength as a company and their dedication to producing quality products.”
The expansion will increase manufacturing space for the business by 40,000 square feet, adding to its existing two buildings, which combined comprises 46,000 square feet at its Connecticut location.
Organized by the National Association of Manufacturers and first started in 2012, Manufacturing Day is an annual celebration highlighting the importance of pursuing modern manufacturing careers.
According to a study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, four million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled over the next 10 years – and more than 2.1 million may go unfilled without skilled workers for these modern manufacturing roles.
“This is a big deal to us as we take our commitment to the industry very seriously,” said Mike D’Addario, a specialist at mk North America, Inc. “The expansion will effectively double the floor space allocated to our extrusion stocking area, assembly room, and shipping and receiving departments, and the machine shop will triple in size! The addition of new CNC machines will expand capabilities, increase throughput, and allow us to maintain control over more of the processes in-house.”
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