Mount Si students take field trip as part of Manufacturing Day

Event was hosted by Allegion in Snoqualmie to encourage students to pursue manufacturing careers.

By Conor Wilson • October 11, 2022 2:00 pm

A group of students enrolled in Career Technical Education courses at Mount Si High School toured Snoqualmie’s Technical Glass Products on Oct. 7, getting a first-hand look at careers in the manufacturing industry.

Technical Glass products, and its parent company Allegion, brought students to their facility on Snoqualmie Ridge as part of Manufacturing Day, a nationwide effort to inspire students to become manufacturers.

The annual educational event takes place on the first Friday in October, during which manufacturing companies invite the community to learn about the industry.

Allegion hosted its first Manufacturing Day event in Snoqualmie back in 2019, and continues to host the event across several of its subsidiaries around the county.

Mount Si CTE students listen to a presentation about Technical Glass Products (Allegion) on Oct. 7. Photo Conor Wilson/ Valley Record.

“We do this every year. It gives us an opportunity to really talk about what we do,” TGP General Manager Devin Bowman, told the students. “Manufacturing — there’s some exciting opportunities — often when people think of manufacturing they think of outdated and behind-the-times work opportunities, and that’s really not the case.”

TGP was started 45 years ago, and today has 150 employees at its Snoqualmie location, Bowman said.

During the event, Mount Si students listened to a presentation about Allegion and its subsidiaries. They also heard from a panel of six current Technical Glass Products employees who worked in a range of fields, including welding, assembly and engineering. Students were then given a tour of the facility and production floor.

Allegion companies produce glass, doors, steel frames, locks, emergency exits, door closers, smart locks and various security solutions. Their sites do custom orders for both residential and commercial buildings, with more commercial clients out of the Snoqualmie plant.

“This discussion about manufacturing as a career path had been lost for decades, with a singular-focus on university. We had this wake-up call,” said U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, who was in attendance.

“We were caught flat-footed,” she said. “We were depending on foreign countries for things that were so critical.”