School District 303 students tour St. Charles industrial sector

St. Charles School District 303 high school students from Compass Academy, St. Charles East High School and St. Charles North High School toured manufacturing facilities in St. Charles on Oct. 25 as part of Manufacturing Month.

About 75 students toured multiple facilities including AJR Specialty Products, Tek Pak, Hoffer Plastics and Lakeview Precision Machining, where industry professionals guided them through their facilities to explain the processes and answer any questions.

Tek Pak senior manufacturing engineer Pat Conley gave students a tour of the factory at 707 Kautz Road. He said Tek Pak uses thermoforming, or the process of transforming plastics into three-dimensional shapes, using heat, vacuum and pressure.

Students were able to see both the manufacturing processes and the final products created by Tek Pak, including packaging for medical and tech supplies and trays used by the food industry that often are used in the packaging of meat and produce found in grocery stores.

Conley told the students that one big misconception about a plastics manufacturing company is that people assume it is not sustainable or eco-friendly. He said Tek Pak reuses as much of their plastic as possible and they even compete for prizes with other Tek Pak factories in the area to see who can maintain the smallest carbon footprint.

Compass Academy freshman Jenna Rashid said she is considering a career in manufacturing and said she was most interested in the mechanical processes of the facility.

Rashid said she was fascinated by the factory’s clean room, which is an isolated portion of the factory used for making sanitary parts for food, technology and medical service products. The clean room is kept sealed, is routinely cleansed and anyone who enters must be completely sanitized and wear protective gear while operating the machines inside.

“I thought it was interesting that they use vacuums to circulate the air and keep out contaminants,” Rashid said. “I was surprised at the amount of sanitation that goes into just making the packaging.”

Compass Academy freshman Travis Edgley said he enjoyed watching the machines and was impressed with how efficient they were.

“I never really considered where the packaging for food products comes from,” Edgley said.

Brian Zuckerman, a senior at Compass Academy, has participated in the St. Charles industrial tours before and said he is contemplating a career in manufacturing.

“I was surprised to learn that robotic arms can’t do as much of the plant processes as I thought,” Zuckerman said. “It’s interesting that people are able to do the work faster and more efficiently than robots.”

Zuckerman said his favorite part of the tour was seeing all the machinery and how many tools are used to make the products. He said he will be reflecting on the industrial tours in the coming months while he continues to consider his career path.

St. Charles industrial tours are held annually by the St. Charles Industrial Committee, in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and District 303.

In addition to the mechanical processes, Conley discussed the types of careers in the industry with students. Careers include marketing, engineering, operations, sales and supervising roles.

“I think it’s awesome that we’re able to promote the manufacturing field to these kids,” Conley said. “We’re seeing less and less young people interested in the industry and it’s a great line of work with a lot of room for advancement.”

The St. Charles Industrial Committee’s key initiatives include Manufacturing Month tours every October and the facilitation of the Peter Schwartz Memorial Scholarship, which is awarded annually to students from each of the three District 303 high schools. The $1,000 scholarship is given in honor of Schwartz, a former chairperson and influential member of the St. Charles Area Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Committee. The scholarship application is open to any senior who wishes to apply and submissions will be accepted until February.