Optimation Blog

What a fabulous week of celebrating Apprenticeships! If you've been following along, we've shared an interview with a journey worker and an apprentice at Optimation each day. Each one gave a different answer to the same questions I've been asking all week. We had a breakfast with our apprentices on Wednesday, celebrating them for making an investment in themselves, Optimation's future, and manufacturing's future. We're truly fortunate to have the best group of apprentices out there. Happy National Apprenticeship Week!

We're celebrating National Apprenticeship Week all week long here at Optimation! As a part of our celebration, we're featuring interviews from one Optimation apprentice and one of our skilled journey workers each day this week. It's a chance to get to know some of our employees a little better, learn about the apprenticeship experience firsthand, and learn some wisdom from the folks who are fully immersed in their careers.

We're celebrating National Apprenticeship Week all week long here at Optimation! As a part of our celebration, we're featuring interviews from one Optimation apprentice and one of our skilled journey workers each day this week. It's a chance to get to know some of our employees a little better, learn about the apprenticeship experience firsthand, and learn some wisdom from the folks who are fully immersed in their careers.

We're celebrating National Apprenticeship Week all week long here at Optimation! As a part of our celebration, we're featuring interviews from one Optimation apprentice and one of our skilled journey workers each day this week. It's a chance to get to know some of our employees a little better, learn about the apprenticeship experience firsthand, and learn some wisdom from the folks who are fully immersed in their careers.

We're celebrating National Apprenticeship Week all week long here at Optimation! As a part of our celebration, we're featuring interviews from one Optimation apprentice and one of our skilled journey workers each day this week. It's a chance to get to know some of our employees a little better, learn about the apprenticeship experience firsthand, and learn some wisdom from the folks who are fully immersed in their careers.

November 11-17, 2019 is National Apprenticeship Week.  National Apprenticeship Week was established four years ago by the US Department of Labor, and we’re glad to see more formal recognition of starting careers in the skilled trades. Optimation has a strong apprenticeship program that was established twelve years ago and accredited by the New York State Department of Labor.  While we may have been ahead of the curve in the recent drive to promote skilled trades, apprenticeships have been around for a very long time.

I’ve been struggling to write this post without it sounding like an intro to a prize on The Price is Right. Perhaps the easiest thing to say is, “Look ma, new website!” But after working on the new www.optimation.us for many months, I wanted to give a little insight into what we wanted to achieve.

This year, I spent Manufacturing Day by travelling to Chicago with Optimation VP of Engineering Wendy Smith, to support her as she was officially recognized as an Influential Woman in Manufacturing by Putnam Media along with 26 other women working in industry. The luncheon, awards ceremony and panel on supporting inclusive workplaces in manufacturing were all held at MxD, a digital manufacturing research and development facility that facilitates experimentation, simulation and training for emerging technologies.

On October 8, in recognition of Hydrogen’s standard atomic weight (1.008) we pause for a moment and consider the facets of the most abundant element in the universe.  Element #1 on our periodic table, and the lightest of all elements.  It is #1 for many reasons.

October 4^th is National Manufacturing Day. In the United States, National Manufacturing Day is celebrated every year on the first Friday of October. Companies of all sizes will participate in events for this year’s National Manufacturing Day. There is a great future in manufacturing, and this is a way to recognize and promote it. Over the last few decades there has been a decline in US manufacturing and in New York State the decline has been even greater. Rochester, NY, where Optimation is located, has seen large reductions in employment, driven in part by the massive declines of huge manufacturers like Kodak, Xerox and Bausch and Lomb. In response to this, the both the federal government and the state government have made efforts to encourage and incentivize smaller manufactures in a variety of industries. One main focus of their efforts is workforce development.