Manufacturing is the backbone of Indiana’s economy, and it faces a question that grows more pressing every year: where will the next generation of skilled workers come from?
At Wiley Metal, we’ve spent the last several years working alongside Grant County schools to help answer it. Here is what that work looks like, and why we believe it matters.
Why Manufacturing Workforce Development Matters in Indiana
No state depends on manufacturing more than Indiana. Manufacturing accounts for roughly a quarter of our state’s GDP, the highest share of any state in the country.
That strength comes with a challenge. Fewer young people are choosing careers in the skilled trades, while many of the experienced workers who built this industry are moving toward retirement. Nationally, manufacturers could need as many as 3.8 million new workers by 2033, and close to 1.9 million of those roles may go unfilled if the skills gap is not addressed.
For a state built on making things, closing that gap is not optional. And it begins with something straightforward: showing students what a career in manufacturing actually looks like.
Work-Based Learning Is Changing Indiana High Schools
Indiana is connecting classrooms to careers more deliberately than it has in the past. Beginning with the class of 2029, students earn their high school diploma alongside readiness seals that reflect the path they plan to take after graduation: enrollment, employment, or enlistment.
Students pursuing the employment path complete 150 hours of work-based learning before they graduate.
That requirement places local employers at the center of the equation. Work-based learning can take place inside or outside of school, in person or virtually, during the summer or the school year, and it can be paid or unpaid. It does not have to be a formal internship program. When manufacturers open their doors, students gain real experience, and the hours they spend count toward their future.
Our Partnerships with Grant County Schools
Wiley Metal’s work with local students goes back several years. We were among the manufacturing partners involved in the Watch Us Academy at Mississinewa High School when it launched in the spring of 2023. Since then, we have worked closely with the Grant Regional Career Center and its Advanced Manufacturing program, which serves students from across the county.
Last school year, Wiley Metal, the Grant Regional Career Center and Watch Us Academy ran the internship program together for the first time. Eleven students took part and contributed a combined 2,031 internship hours, and eight of them accepted full-time summer positions with us. Several former interns have stayed on as full-time members of our team.
Our work reaches younger students as well. We have partnered with GRCC on a free Advanced Manufacturing Camp for students ages 12 to 16, made possible in part through SparkForce and the FMA Foundation, which supports camps and scholarships like these across the country.
We would be glad to see a few of those campers come back to us as team members one day.
Learning on the Shop Floor
This school year, we are continuing our work with GRCC’s Advanced Manufacturing class, where juniors and seniors study lean manufacturing, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
Much of the semester takes place in the classroom, where students work through simulations that model how material and information move through a real operation. Then they come to us. Students spend time on our shop floor, talk with our team members, and carry what they have learned into a semester-long improvement project based on what they observe here.
One GRCC student is also sitting in on our weekly leadership meetings this year, seeing firsthand how decisions get made, how priorities are set, and how the concepts from class play out in a working manufacturing facility. Early on, a subject came up in one of those meetings that closely mirrored a simulation the class had run only days before. That kind of connection is a difficult thing to create in a classroom.
Sharing What Works Across Indiana
The impact of these partnerships is reaching beyond Grant County. Wiley Metal and GRCC have been invited to lead a session at a regional work-based learning summit for employers and educators, where we will share what has been working and how other businesses can get involved.
Investing in the Next Generation
Strong manufacturing communities are built by employers, educators, and students working together. We are grateful to be part of that effort in Grant County, and we are committed to helping the next generation discover the opportunities waiting for them in the skilled trades.
If your school or organization would like to explore a partnership, or if you are interested in a career in manufacturing, we would be glad to hear from you. Contact us today.