Manufacturing associations connect to potential workforce as interest in industry grows

Student interest in manufacturing has peaked as the outlook for job growth in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex remains optimistic, pushing two local organizations to educate the sector’s potential future workforce. 

The Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center and TechFW, who together launched the Manufacturing Accelerator and Development Engine, or MADE, hosted Manufacturing Day 2026 on Oct. 2 at the former White Settlement ISD Fine Arts Academy campus. 

The four-hour event drew an estimated 1,500 guests, triple the number from last year when the organization’s expected 250-person event saw a 500-guest turnout, according to a news release from the University of Texas at Arlington, where TMAC operates. 

The draw of the event is twofold, said Brittany Rosenberg, a manufacturing industry leader with over a decade of experience in the field who pivoted to manufacturing from finance around 2016 with a focus on sustainability and startups. 

First, associations have partnered together to launch stronger initiatives. Second, manufacturing has become more popular in recent years, more mainstream. Data gathered by TMAC, an organization that supports the local manufacturing industry, showed an estimated 31,000 expected additional job vacancies in the region by 2030. 

Lisa Dougherty, an executive at TechFW, a nonprofit technology incubator, said organizers made a larger effort to bring in more demos and community this year. 

“We want to show these kids what manufacturing is,” she said. 

Dougherty said she hoped students would be inspired by the hands-on experience offered by over 40 interactive stations and live demonstrations set up for the high schoolers in fields such as robotics, automation, product and process, and engineering. A blacksmithing station was also set up just outside the gymnasium doors. 

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, who attended Manufacturing Day 2026, said manufacturing and workforce are important issues being discussed on both a local and national level. 

“You know, on Capitol Hill, this is a hot topic right now,” he said. “Jobs, technology, AI — and it is something that we need to figure out how we’re gonna wrap our arms around.” 

Veasey said events such as these are important to the community because they provide alternative career perspectives and opportunities for students who may be interested in the field. 

“I think being here and seeing these young people participating today … understanding what manufacturing is like, is wanting to give them a leg up, really on a lot of other kids,” he said. 

He added that the event potentially alleviated anxieties about job prospects for both students and parents. 

“I talked to a few kids who want to go into welding,” Veasey said. “It gives them a different perspective and it gives their parents a different perspective.” 

Colby Joynt, a White Settlement ISD high school student, said he came to the event to learn more about the welding field.

“I’m just, kind of, browsing job opportunities that I can get after high school,” he said, adding that he hopes to attend the Western Welding Academy, a trade school in Wyoming that offers specialization in welding. 

The 16-year-old definitely sees the potential growth for the welding market. 

“You will always need somebody to build something, weld together — your buildings, your cars, oil rigs, space, aerospace, aircraft,” he said. “There’s always a need for some kind of welding condition.”

As the Fort Worth area experiences growth in industries such as transportation, warehousing, construction and data centers, the need for welding has increased.

“There (are) a lot of welding requirements,” Rosenberg said. “There’s a lot of metal forming, metal fitting. So it’s different industries, but a lot of overlapping talents.”

For Colby, being part of this industry has a common end goal: owning your own business. 

“The goal is really to kind of own your company,” he said. “I want to own my own welding company, fabricating whatever.”

The day before, on Oct. 1, at a roundtable in Beaumont, Gov. Greg Abbott put a spotlight on Manufacturing Week 2026, described as a week set aside to recognize manufacturers and their impact on the economy, from Oct. 2 to Oct. 9. 

“Texas is where the future is being built and where the world comes to innovate,” he said. “And ‘Made in Texas’ has never been a more powerful global brand or beacon of innovation.”

Rebecca Heliot is a freelance reporter who previously served as a business reporter for The Oklahoman. She specializes in general assignment business reporting, features and breaking news. Her work has been published in The Oklahoman, USA Today, Community Impact, Houston Chronicle and more. Contact her at [email protected]. 

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