NFPA Members Creating Partnerships with Heroes MAKE America

Since 2018, NFPA has been a sponsor of The Manufacturing Institute’s program called Heroes MAKE America (HMA), which offers industry training designed to help our nation’s service members transition into manufacturing careers. One of NFPA’s key objectives is to increase the number of people educated in fluid power and connect them to careers in the fluid power industry, and this partnership helps us offer opportunities to our members who are looking for candidates on their production floors.

In addition to promoting the HMA participants’ resumes on a regular basis, we also encourage our members to get directly connected to the program. Recently two NFPA member companies have taken advantage of this partnership.

Danfoss in Hopkinsville, Kentucky invited HMA participants to visit its manufacturing facility for a tour. This group of HMA participants is studying and receiving a credential in mechatronics. They were able to see quite a bit of automation and several robots for the first time at this facility, which really captured their interest. Danfoss has also offered to help with reviewing resumes and organizing mock interviews to help prepare these HMA participants for their next steps.

One HMA participant said about their experience at Danfoss, “I enjoyed learning all about manufacturing different and small parts. I feel I could see myself working here.”

Another NFPA member to take advantage of this partnership is Plymouth Tube Supply. The company invited HMA participants to tour its manufacturing facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The group was able to watch a nearly 30-foot long engineered shape get extruded from a roll of titanium, which was a first for many of the HMA participants. Plymouth Tube Supply has also offered to assist in career training and welcomed participants back for individual tours.

One HMA participant said about their experience at Plymouth Tube Supply, “I enjoyed the fact that this was a metal manufacturing plant. They specialize in creating engineered shapes, and seeing the process of how they created those shapes was very interesting. The employees I had the opportunity to interact with were very professional and knowledgeable in their work.”

If your company would like to get involved with HMA, please contact Amy Zignego at azignego@nfpa.com.