GREEN BAY (NBC26) — In partnership with the Greater Green Bay Chamber, NBC 26 is celebrating Manufacturing Month in October.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Green Bay Drop Forge's Chief Operating Officer, Hector Ibarra, helps to lead a team in an industry that's been around for centuries.
"It was just somebody who figured out that you can heat metal, you can change it," Ibarra said.
Forging is a high-powered process of heating metal at temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees, and then shaping it into parts.
These parts could end up in products across almost every industry, from sports, and medical equipment to aerospace and military defense.
"You're kind of creating art that sometimes is hard to duplicate, for example, with a robot, so you need to have a sense of what you're manufacturing," Ibarra said.
Green Bay Drop Forge is a business unit under Cleveland Hardware and Forging Co.
The company opened its Green Bay location in 1914 to expand the forging industry while creating new career paths for its employees. Just ask Kayla Everetts, the company's assembly supervisor.
"If I tell someone what I do for a living, that I'm a supervisor of the assembly area, they're like how does that happen, that's not really a female role," Everetts said. "Then once they get to know me and see my personality and my work ethic, they're like that's definitely the right fit."
Before starting at Green Bay Drop Forge, Everetts said she had an interest in manufacturing at a young age.
Now, she works alongside many of her family members, which is something Orlando Garcia Diaz Jr. is also familiar with.
"I don't think there are many places where you're able to work with your dad and understand what he does," Garcia Diaz Jr. said.
His father works in the forging department and says it gives him joy to see his son grow within the industry.
"That makes me proud of him, you know. That's mean he's doing very good in here," Orlando Sr. said.
"Being able to make your dad proud was probably one of the most amazing feelings ever," Garcia Diaz Jr. said.
According to the Forging Industry Association (FIA), forging provides more than 36,000 jobs across 38 states.
"It's all about the people," Ibarra said. "We are very proud to be here in Green Bay, Wisconsin."
Now, the company is planning to move to a new home in northeast Wisconsin on Green Bay's east side.
The new facility will feature new electric machinery and more strategies to expand overall production.
