San Jose Manufacturing Week is inspired by National Manufacturing Day (Friday, Oct. 5).

The event is hosted by the City of San Jose and the key partner of the Silicon Valley Organization (SVO). It is intended to give students an opportunity to explore real-world applications in technology, producing workflow and logistics, and career pathways in the broader STE(A)M fields.

On October 1 – 5, 2018 over 500 ESUHSD students had the opportunity to participate in 2-hour tours at different advanced manufacturing facilities throughout the week. To maximize learning experience for students, tours accommodated between 50-60 students (approximately one school bus).

• The morning tour: 9:30 am – 11:30 am
• The afternoon tour: 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Participating manufacturing organizations included:

• Britelab: a hardware startup incubator and manufacturing services provider
• Cobham: an aerospace and defense manufacturer
• BD Biosciences: a manufacturer of flow cytometry equipment for analyzing cellular organisms
• Zoll Medical: a manufacturer of emergency medical response technologies
• Fetch Robotics: a fast-growing robotics company that builds warehouse delivery robots
• Vander-Bend Manufacturing: a high-volume precision metal fabricator whose customers include Lam Research
• Bestronics: a San Jose-based research electronics services provider that builds electronic products for businesses around the country

On Manufacturing Day, Friday October 5th, Jabil Blue Sky Innovation Center in South San Jose partnered with NextFlex to create more robust tour and tabling for different educational career pathways for students interested in engineering. Representatives from San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College spoke about the different pathways students can get into for advanced manufacturing careers or engineering as their major focus.