During this week’s 98th National FFA Convention & Expo, FFA members toured a growing Indianapolis-based business and received an inside look at the booming manufacturing industry.
“We work in industries anywhere from defense, which is our biggest industry, to oil and gas, power generation, nuclear work and space, and we also do quite a bit of work in the semiconductor industry,” says Mike Griffith, president and CEO of Major Tool & Machine. “Next year, we’re going to be in business for 80 years.”
According to Griffith, Major Tool & Machine sees a growing demand for its work and it seeks top talent to fill its high-tech workforce. Spanning 650,000 square feet and six buildings, the company includes 450 employees — some of whom recently hit 50 years of service.
“Jobs here range anywhere from a machinist or a fabricator, to a welder or quality inspectors and engineers,” Griffith says. “Maintenance is another really big category in a business like ours.”
Griffith adds that Major Tool & Machine is poised to bring in student groups for events like its Manufacturing Day, which exposes them to career opportunities in the industry. For the first time this year, the company is excited to partner with National FFA to offer Career Success Tours to FFA members during convention week.
“We love students coming from FFA, and I come from a farming background,” Griffith says. “Through my 31 years of working here, I’ve seen the work ethic that comes from people who come from that kind of background. I think a lot of students, and people in general, have no idea what it is that we do, and just how important these jobs are.”
During the tours, Griffith says FFA members can talk with Major Tool & Machine employees, including Director of Manufacturing Brandon Lee, about their backgrounds and responsibilities within the company.
“As a young person, I didn’t know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Lee says. “It’s really hard, you know, in your late teens, early twenties to decide what it is you want to be when you grow up.”
Lee adds that FFA members are the perfect audience for Major Tool & Machine to get in front of to showcase the vast opportunities available to them if they choose a career in manufacturing.
“Some of the things that they’re exposed to as high schoolers, they get to see here put in practical application,” he says. “Working with your hands, thinking outside of the box and problem-solving is what we get to do every day.”
