August 17, 2023
Steve Cummins of Mansfield Engineered Components said high school students are often shocked to find out all the things that are made right here in Mansfield. Mansfield Engineered Components, the company Cummins co-founded with his brother Bruce, have worked to remedy this by hosting student tour groups for almost a decade as part of Manufacturing Days. Students from Richland, Ashland and Crawford counties will visit local manufacturers during this year’s Manufacturing Days on Oct. 5 and 6.
“One of my employees is from manufacturing days, so I’m fully invested. It paid off, it works,” say Jeff Miller, president of Miller Fabrication & Welding. “It was all because I said, ‘When you’re ready to work, if you need a job, you come find me and I’ll either give you a job or find you a job.’ And he showed up.” That employee is Bryce Courser, a 2022 graduate of Mansfield Christian School. Courser didn’t know what he wanted to do when he toured Miller Fabrication & Welding as a junior in high school, but he remembered Miller’s offer years later. After graduating, Courser studied welding at the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center. Then he contacted Miller, who hired him about five months ago.