Heavy Metal Tour Makes a Stop at County Materials

More than 80 eighth-grade students learned first-hand about the growth of job opportunities and potential wages they can earn in the manufacturing industry on October 4th during their tour at County Materials’ Marathon, Wis. location. As part of the 6th annual Heavy Metal Tour, students from John Muir Middle School in Wausau experienced what concrete product manufacturing is like and learned about the many career paths available to them in the organization. Students learned about worthwhile career opportunities as professional drivers, equipment operators, mechanics, quality control technicians, engineers, managers, sales representatives, accountants, human resources personnel, and many more.

They also heard personal stories from employees, including Scott Behnke, County Materials’ ready-mix operations manager. “I started as a driver in the company and worked my way up to head the ready-mix division; we have a lot of that type of professional growth in our company,” Behnke told the students. “We have people working here who came straight out of high school, people with 2-year technical degrees, and 4-year degrees. There’s a spot for all levels and interests.”

The Heavy Metal Tour originated in 2011 to address the skilled labor gap impacting the nation and hitting Wisconsin’s manufacturing industry especially hard. The goal of the Heavy Metal Tour is to teach students cross sectional career pathways in manufacturing, and to show that there are great places of employment for people of all backgrounds. This year’s tour was made up of 16 school districts in 10 counties, totaling more than 3,800 students, making it the largest tour of its kind in the country. More than 62 regional manufacturing facilities welcomed students across the state. Created by the North Central Wisconsin Development Board, the success of the tour is thanks to the collaboration between regional chambers, technical colleges, sponsors including the Central Wisconsin Metal Manufacturing Alliance, and the many manufacturing facilities such as County Materials who invite students to visit their facilities.

“There is so much you don’t know about manufacturing until you get in here and see it all,” said Ann Lemmer, an English Language Arts teacher from John Muir. “It’s really great for the students at this age because they are getting ready to plan what they want to do and what classes they should take.”