Region's Vital Manufacturing Base Celebrated at Daylong Event

"Made in Central PA," a manufacturers' showcase of the products and career opportunities available in Penn College's nine-county back yard, was held Thursday on main campus. About a dozen people including teachers and counselors from area high schools, as well as representatives of regional career and technology centers attended. The group heard presentations and participated in roundtable discussions in Penn's Inn, lunched at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant and toured related academic majors. "Manufacturing in this country is not dead," reassured Donald O. Praster, dean of industrial and engineering technologies. "We have any number of companies who have hired and continue to be interested in hiring our graduates." Praster led a visit to welding, machining and automated manufacturing facilities, and assistant dean Bill Mack took the group through the plastics laboratories. Among participating manufacturers were Primus Technologies Corp., Videon Central, Ames True Temper, the Pennsylvania Hardwoods Development Council, Lewis Lumber Products Inc. and First Quality Products Inc. The keynote speaker was Lauren Bryson, statewide director of the Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center Network; closing remarks were delivered by David Whitten from Bingaman & Son Lumber Inc. and the Keystone Wood Products Association. The event was sponsored by the Central Pennsylvania Workforce Development Corp. and the college.