Manufacturing Mondays
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!
This week I attended a launch event in Novi for two new clothing brands - OnPurpose Socks and Quest Brand clothing - designed and created by students at Novi High School, through the school's new business incubator program for seniors. For the next few weeks, these brands will be sold at the Twelve Oaks Mall Macy's.