Friday, October 5th, St. Mary’s County celebrated its manufacturers by participating in Manufacturing (MFG) Day. Engility, J.F. Taylor, and Platform Aerospace all opened their doors to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation Secretary, Kelly M. Shulz visited both Engility and Platform Aerospace for guided tours. Secretary Shulz commented on the importance of manufacturing jobs to the Maryland economy stating, “We just saw today that the national jobs numbers came out and the third-highest industry of jobs across the nation has been manufacturing and [Maryland] is seeing a similar trend.”
The report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday showed that manufacturing jobs “continued to trend up in September,” increasing by 18,000 nationwide. Secretary Shulz expressed the importance of manufacturing to Maryland and Governor Hogan, citing the “More Jobs for Marylanders Act” which promotes manufacturing through, tax credits, grants, and loans among other things. In Maryland, the BLS graph for the manufacturing industry shows an upward trend since 2016.
In addition to welcoming Secretary Shulz, Engility hosted 22 students from the Forrest Technology Center. Secretary Shulz stated that the visiting students might have had their preconceived notions on manufacturing challenged, explaining, “[Manufacturing] is definitely a demanding career that involves high skilled STEM education,” and an ability to, “grow and expand with the industry.”
Engility’s Operations Manager, Michael Comer, and Logistical Analyst, Michael Razzi, expressed the importance of showing the students what they do at Engility. Razzi stated that he believes it is essential to the young people “especially,” allowing them to “see the future and the things we have under our roof [at Engility] that a lot of times they don’t get to see.” Comer interjected, stating that manufacturing day benefits Engility by letting local business who “may outsource to other states” know that “Engility is here.” Comer added that Engility has “the largest fabrication facility in the area,” to which Razzi reinforced by saying, “we are definitely a force to be reckoned with.” According to Comer and Razzi, Engility has hired 42 people so far this year, positively impacting the St. Mary’s economy. Comer ended the interview stating that Engility is growing and would like to keep it that way. Both Comer and Razzi thanked the Secretary for visiting Engility’s facility.
Manufacturing Day was embraced by the county this year as a part of their attempt to diversify St. Mary’s economy. Commissioner Todd Morgan (District 4), who was present on the tour of Engility with Secretary Shulz, proclaimed at the Board of County Commissioners Meeting that St. Mary’s is “trying to diversify our economy away from the base [PAX NAS]… we believe this is one of our more robust opportunities to expand and build our economy.” St. Mary’s County’s Director of Economic Development, Chris Kaselmis, was present on the tour, in addition to Secretary Shulz and Morgan.
The tour concluded after the Secretary’s group visited Platform Aerospace just down the street from Engility.
Contact Jerold at staffwriter@thebaynet.com.