SIDNEY — The entire student body of Longfellow Elementary School in Sidney learned what the manufacturing business is all about during a day-long program, Friday, May 12.
The program was developed by the Shelby County Historical Society and featured adult volunteers who guided teams of students through the process of designing, producing, marketing, packaging and shipping a product. At Longfellow it was wooden candlesticks.
Also participating were Sidney High School students who are in the Workshop Academy and the Sidney High FFA, who led the younger teams through 12 stations.
Stacy Pettit, human resource director of American Trim, taught the children about hiring practices and walked them through what it is like to work on an assembly line. Other volunteers represented the Sidney Fire Department, Sidney Police Department, Amos Press and the Shelby County Soil and Water Conservation District and the program had the expertise of retirees from many other Shelby County industries.
The students were introduced to concepts including quality control, purchasing, accounting, engineering, teamwork, deadlines, safety, attendance, warehousing, transportation and resource management.