Manufacturing Mondays
For today's Manufacturing Monday, I visited MagnaInternational facilities in Southeast Michigan. Magna is one of the world's largest auto suppliers, and they are playing a major role in the development and production of autonomous vehicles.
For this week's Manufacturing Monday, I spent time with Ford at the Livonia Transmission Plant. The transmission engines built here sell all over the world. The plant employs an incredible labor force responsible for nearly 24/7 humming operations.
This morning, I toured Clips & Clamps Industries in Plymouth for Manufacturing Monday. Clips & Clamps has been a family-owned business for over 50 years. They design, engineer, & manufacture all of their own products, ranging from metal stampings to brackets to wire forms.
I learned a lot while visiting B&W in Livonia for this week's Manufacturing Monday. B&W's business has been hit hard by the ongoing trade war with China. We need to provide support for small businesses like B&W that have been impacted by this Administration's trade policies.
On Earth Day, I visited two manufacturing businesses focused on the future of sustainable manufacturing.
For the first Manufacturing Monday of April's District Work period, I toured two manufacturing businesses in Michigan's 11th District.
For today's Manufacturing Monday, I visited the Cobo Center for SAE's 2019 WCX event, and got the chance to witness the progress of self-driving vehicles firsthand! The car provided by Metro Detroit's Dataspeed had several modes that allowed full autonomous driving, driving from the back seat with a secondary steering wheel, and regular driving.
For this week's Manufacturing Monday, I had the pleasure of touring International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)'s Electrical Industry Training Center! They provide training for many skilled trades including pipefitting, electrical work, and welding.
I recently had the chance to visit FEV North America, which specializes in hybrid systems, autonomous testing, electric vehicles, and more! I was particularly impressed by their new Vehicle Development Center, which boasts state-of-the art calibration and testing facilities for research and production of all finds of vehicles.
Today, I visited Oakland Schools Technological Campus in Wixom. It was so exciting to see our high schoolers getting exposed to some of the skilled trades, learning skills that can put them on a path to a high-paying job. This is what we're talking about when we say the next generation is going to lead our state's economy!