Eagle Manufacturing Company CEO Joe Eddy knows his company and his industry play a big part in the nation’s economic turnaround, but after President Donald Trump’s second request within a week for Eagle representatives to join him in Washington, D.C., Eddy now knows the president agrees.
Eagle Maintenance Foreman Dave Harvey, Design Engineer Pat Petraglia and Marketing Manager Ingrid Loy were among 13 people who joined the president today – October 6 – as he signed a proclamation for National Manufacturing Day. Just last week, four Eagle employees and representatives of Warwood Tool (also from the Wheeling, W.Va. area) stood with the president to represent the manufacturing industry to the nation as he addressed the National Association of Manufacturers, or NAM.
“To be able to follow up last week’s visit to Washington, D.C. to hear President Trump speak about the importance of manufacturing to the nation’s economy with this kind of a celebration is quite an honor,” said Eddy, a member of the NAM board. “We know how important manufacturing is to the nation’s economy, but it’s great to see President Trump repeatedly single out West Virginia as a model in his push for tax reform to make America more competitive, put more money in workers’ paychecks and improve the quality of life in our country.”
Since 2012, National Manufacturing Day has been celebrated across the country to allow students, educators, business people, the media and elected officials to see the both the effects of the industry and the opportunities it provides.
Eagle also was a participant today in the launch event of the Explore the New Manufacturing Regional Education Academy, commonly referred to as the Explore Academy. The Explore Academy allowed 125 STEM and tech-ed eighth graders from five area middle schools to visit Wheeling Park High School and to hear from simulated workplace high school students, educators and manufacturing representatives of Eagle, Touchstone, the Mull Group, as well as WVU-Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the West Virginia Department of Education.
“We are so proud to showcase our workers and our industry on two different stages on such a historic day,” Eddy said. “I know the manufacturing industry has a bright future, but we must continue to educate our young people about the opportunities manufacturing makes available to them.”
Explore the New Manufacturing is a statewide education campaign of the West Virginia Manufacturers Educational Fund. It is sponsored by the West Virginia Manufacturers Association. To learn more visit www.exploremfgwv.org.
