Career and Leadership Development Academy, Cohort Two, Manufacturing and Clean Energy Day

Career and Leadership Development Academy Cohort Two, Manufacturing and Clean Energy Day Blog

Written by the 7th grade team at Holly Shelter Middle School

Throughout the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s Career and Leadership Development Academy ten month program, each of the eight middle schools are assigned a day to write about their experiences. 37 students from across all eight New Hanover County middle schools participated in the fifth industry exploration day in Cohort Two, Manufacturing and Clean Energy, on January 3, 2024 at Wilmington Grill, Rulmeca, and Cape Fear Community College North Campus. In addition to learning about careers in manufacturing, they had the opportunity to hear from Duke Energy, GE Hitachi, and Cape Fear Solar Systems to learn about clean energy careers. Below is the fifth blog write up from Cohort Two of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s Career and Leadership Academy experience.

 Today on our Career Leadership Development Academy (CLDA) field trip we focused on manufacturing and energy.The Wilmington Grill manufactures typical home style grills that would go in your backyard and use gas to power the grill. The Wilmington Grill makes thicker style metal that does not chorode. We also went to Rumelca that focused on a specific type of pulley called the motorized pulleys. The motorized pulleys at Rulmeca have rubber on them and only can spin one way so they could put an emergency brake stop on the conveyor belt. Rumelca usually took four weeks to make and give motorized pulleys to customers but they decreased that amount into two weeks by adding rubber into their process. We also heard from Duke Energy, GE Hitachi, and Cape Fear Solar Systems about how a Nuclear Energy pellet is the equivalent of one ton of coal. We went to all of these businesses and they taught us about how they got into their jobs. Robert told us about how you have to have multiple skills to put down solar panels. Like how you have to be brave  and have no height fears and mechanical and electrical skills to be able to put solar panels up. Solar energy is also clean for the environment.They also talked to us about their degrees and the challenges they had to face while working in the industries. Like how John makes grills but while making the grills he has left over scrap that he has to sell but he is losing a $1 every single pound of scrap. What stood out to me was how quick the process was to weld and create grills at Wilmington Grill. Also how quick it is to make motorized rollers and pulleys at Rumelca and how they keep expanding so quickly. At Cape Fear Community College I liked how there were classrooms inside of the labs on campus.

Today we met Skyler, who works with GE Hitachi: Nuclear energy. She works in human resources with GE Hitachi. There are 3 main parts to working at GE Hitachi, Design engineering, manufacturing, and Field services. For education, the requirements varied  from a high school diploma to an associates degree to a bachelor's degree to a masters degree. We also met with people from Duke Energy, here you can be a lineman, manufacturer, and engineer. Rulmeca is one of the world's leading manufacturers for rollers, pulleys, and drum motors. Mike is the CEO for Rulmeca. They take these things and put them together for people who need them. For Wilmington Grill they manufacture home style grills. They also fix your grills if they are broken. We talked to John. He walked us through what they do and how they do it. They have machines to help them. The education you need for this is a high school diploma, an associates degree, a bachelor's degree or a masters degree. Another thing we learned at cape fear community college was the Cape Fear Solar Systems, Robert talked us through this, he places them on top of peoples houses, and uses it as clean energy. What stood out to me about the Wilmington Grill was the machines they used and how much it costs. The machines were very large, one they used was $250,000. The other one they used was bigger; it cost $500,000. HALF A MILLION!!! What stood out to me about the Rulmeca building was they started out in a storage container and now they are one of the world’s largest manufacturers for rollers, pulleys, and drum motors, that's my definition of never giving up. And what stood out about the Cape Fear community college was all the cool displays they had on their wall.

The first place we visited to learn about manufacturing was Wilmington Grill. There, we went to the back and watched them cut out metal for the grill with a machine called a puncher. Then the same piece of metal was transferred to a laser cutter which further shaped it, preparing it to get bent into the top of the grill. We stayed a bit longer to ask more questions and talk about the rest of the grill making process. During this part of the tour, we learned about the prices and numbers that are involved in this business. After that, we went to Rulmeca where we split into two groups and listened to a presentation about the origin of the company, what makes them so different from other manufacturing companies, and where you can find some of the products they make. Some examples of these places are the grocery store, when your items are on the conveyor belt and conveyor belts in factories, airports, and post offices. The presentation also taught us about the various locations and distributors for Rulmeca as well as a secret project they're working on. In the factory we saw the inventory and work stations used when making as well as distributing the pulleys, rollers, levers,etc. Our final destination was the northern campus of Cape Fear Community College where we ate lunch and listened to a few presentations. The first Presentation was explaining the types of jobs and education involved in working for Duke Energy, the second was from GE Hitachi, and the last was Cape Fear Solar Systems. During these presentations we learned the types of education needed for some of these jobs and the importance of innovation along with transferable skills. When the presentations were finished we walked around the college campus to view the mechatronic, machining, and mechanical engineering classes. 

Today while we were at Wilmington Grill, Rulmeca, and Cape Fear Community College, we learned that there are a lot of different factors that go into making something and selling it. While we were at Wilmington Grill the owner of the company and the administration said they sell, make, and purchase their grills’ supply. They are one of the smaller manufacturing companies. Rulmeca was one of the bigger manufacturing companies.They had around 16 employees in Wilmington but they are a part of an international network of businesses. Wilmington Grill had about 10 employees but the Wilmington grill was a family owned business and Rulmeca isn't. They both work well even though the employee sizes differ. One thing we learned at Cape Fear Community College is transferable skills.Those skills include the ability to clearly communicate ideas to others, solve unexpected problems, or work well in a team. Some examples: Team work, adaptability, leadership, communication, and owning up to your actions. At Rulmeca they currently have shipments every week! They recently expanded their warehouse to help with more storage and for a plan they are coming up with to most likely help going forward for their business and with the things they make. Again at Cape Fear Community College we talked with Skyler about Nuclear energy and power plants! The nuclear energy industry is taking a huge step toward making a low carbon energy future. With Skyler we learned that one fuel pellet provides the equivalent of 149 gallons of oil, one ton of coal and 17000 cubic feet of natural gas! Then we talked to Robert about solar panels and how they are used and set up. Solar is a type of clean energy that helps the environment. Something that I enjoyed very much was the ideas that people came up with at Rulmeca. They built a few of their own machinery items and came up with a project that will soon most likely activate in about two years.

On our trip we covered a lot of ground. We went to The Wilmington Grill, Rulmeca, and Cape Fear Community College where we learned about all the different sorts of things like the manufacturing of grills, rollers, motorized pulleys, along with solar panels. All of the jobs and places that we learned about today have a variety of education that varied from a high school diploma to a master's degree. We also learned about transferable skills from Skyler Stump that works with Ge Hitachi Nuclear Energy which included adaptability, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, empathy, and learner’s mindset. These transferable skills go and stay with us forever and wherever we go. We also learned that there are three main parts of GE Hitachi and those are Design Engineering, Manufacturing, and Field Services. Along with that we learned that there are many different components when it comes to making and selling your items. At Wilmington grill we learned more about the certain types of tools and machines they use in order to create all of the items they sell and create. We received a lot of good and interesting information today! One of the things that stuck out to me was that Rulmeca started off as a business that consisted of only two to three people and is now a part of multiple different locations all around the world! It’s very cool that they were able to expand and thrive and that they are continuing to thrive even more! Today was a very fun and exciting day.