“It’s important for them to see what's going on in the industry and how manufacturing and production works. They were able to see what a typical workday would look like and interact with employees.” – Bryce Crump, Advanced Manufacturing Instructor on the Reno Campus
In recognition of Manufacturing Day, Francis Tuttle students toured PALFINGER’s Oklahoma City location and observed first-hand what their future careers could look like. PALFINGER hosted students from the Reno Campus’ Advanced Manufacturing and Welding Programs for both a morning and afternoon tour.
A global company, PALFINGER produces a range of lifting equipment, including multiple styles of cranes, truck-mounted forklifts, liftgates, and more. In Oklahoma City, employees manufacture and assemble bucket trucks. Students visited the fab shop, assembly shop, and paint shop, learning about every stage of the truck building process.
Bryce Crump, Advanced Manufacturing Instructor, said tours like this are valuable because they provide students a look at a day in the industry. The employees who led the tour have been with PALFINGER for several years, three for 20 and one for 16, and Crump said that longevity is also beneficial for students to see.
“It’s obviously a great place to work with the longevity that we’re seeing, and our students got to see how the industry’s working, what the standard is, and what their expectations are,” he said.
Ryan Cochran, a PALFINGER supervisor who facilitated the afternoon tour, said the company hosted Francis Tuttle students to engage those who want to enter the industry.
“Manufacturing is something that I’ve done my entire life, and I’m really passionate about it,” Cochran expressed. “Seeing students who are interested in that and want to get into the technical trades is great. It’s great for us and our industry, and it brings in new people.”
Just as the tours were beneficial for PALFINGER, they were also valuable for the Francis Tuttle students. For Ivan Salcido, an Advanced Manufacturing student and Western Heights senior, the tour highlighted the opportunities available in manufacturing shops. In the future, he’d like to program robots, and seeing the ones at PALFINGER made him interested in applying for a job with the company.
This year, a record nine female students are enrolled in Richmond Hardimon’s Welding class at the Reno Campus. During the afternoon tour, some of these students chatted with one of PALFINGER’s female welders, who shared her experience in the male-dominated field.
Brittney Khong and Berenice Hernandez graduated from Putnam City West last year and returned to Francis Tuttle as adult Welding students. Khong explained she enjoyed seeing how the shop worked, how employees worked together, and how everyone’s work came together in the end, and both shared how much they enjoyed talking with the female employee.
“Walking through the shop and seeing all the welders was pretty impressive,” Hernandez said. “But my favorite part was talking to the female welder because she gave us a lot of advice. She encouraged me to want to come back and feel welcome and not nervous. She did also encourage us to not feel nervous around the men in the profession because you’re not working against them, you’re working against yourself.”