New Way Air Bearings has always been proud to help give back to the community, and this year we were especially proud to once again take part in the What’s So Cool About Manufacturing program. The What’s So Cool About Manufacturing initiative pairs fast-growing technology and engineering companies from the Greater Philadelphia Area with local schools.
This program provides students with tours of manufacturing facilities, helping them to understand the vital, groundbreaking work which goes on right in their own backyard. During the tours, students put together a video presentation about what they learned, and what they can take away from their experience. The school with the best video wins a prize!.
What’s So Cool was started in 2013 by the Manufacturer’s Resource Center to help introduce children to STEM education through hands-on experience with local companies, and to give them an idea of future career prospects. Since then, the program has exploded in popularity, size and scope. What’s So Cool now encompasses multiple efforts under the umbrella of Dream it. Do it. PA to promote awareness of advanced manufacturing careers via outreach by local professionals through presentations to students at all levels of education.
Dream it. Do it. PA not only provides presentations, but also follow-up resources for students to understand the careers available to them. They also provide resources for educators to assist in building STEM positive classroom environments, and exercises which promote critical thinking and innovation.
For 2021, New Way partnered with Springton Lake Middle School from the Rose Tree Media School District in Delaware. Given that Covid safety prohibited the on-site tours we would normally provide, in 2020 we led a virtual tour for E.T Richardson School where they got to see our manufacturing processes up close. This year, we hopped on a Zoom call with Springton Lake’s video club. During the call, we discussed how air bearings are used, and how you might encounter the products and services they enable in your day to day lives.
As the students at Springton Lake learned from Rich Hesse, our technical sales manager and Tim Claffey, our VP of sales, air bearings operate along the same principles as the contact bearings you might find inside commercial products like fidget spinners, or industrial and medical technology like CT scanners.
If you have a Samsung or LG TV in your home, our Air Bars could be used to transport the glass during manufacturing. The students came to understand the often groundbreaking applications of air bearings, from satellite testing to telescope positioning.
New Way was recognized by the government as an infrastructure-critical business during Covid-19 lockdowns. As such, we understand the incredible value that a robust STEM education provides to our society, and we are continually invested in fostering that curiosity among the next generation. Jobs in STEM are anticipated to grow 10.5% between 2020 and 2030. New Way is committed to both providing new jobs, as well as cultivating an appreciation for the sciences which underpin them.
If you want to learn more about our products and the myriad benefits our porous media products offer, please contact us, and if you’re one of our valued industrial partner’s who’d like to join us in supporting What’s So Cool about Manufacturing, you can find their information here.