Students Tour Local Manufacturing Businesses

Press release from the City of Napa:

NAPA, CA—For the second year in a row, the Napa Makes initiative was pleased to partner with the Napa Valley Transportation Authority (the Vine) and New Tech High School to take a group of high school seniors on a tour of local manufacturers. The project intends to open students' eyes to the possibility of a career in manufacturing, thus strengthening the workforce pipeline and the local economy.

This year, the day started at California Etching. Owner Paul Hanson generously provided a tour of his facility, showing the students in real time how his team creates custom, artisan wine bottles through etching and hand painting. He had each student design a wine bottle; then, he randomly picked a winner and planned to deliver them a custom (empty!) wine bottle with their design.

Linda Parks of Lixit Animal Care Products took students on a tour of her factory floor, following an order process from submission through building to shipping. She introduced the group to workers, office staff, and the floor manager, allowing students to see the various options at a company like Lixit.

At 707 Embroidery Zone, owner Carlos Salazar showed the wide range of products he and his team create, from custom-embroidered apparel and hats to screen-printed tshirts, vinyl wrap for cars and windows, and more. Students left with a screen-printed New Tech T-shirt, hot off the press.

The final stop of the day was Chris Chell of the Nova Group. This defense contractor designs, builds, and installs custom defense infrastructure products domestically and abroad. Students donned hard hats for a tour that drove home the scale of the work being done in Napa.

The City of Napa is so grateful to our partners for facilitating this annual experience proving to be very impactful for our students and community!

This press release was produced by the City of Napa. The views expressed here are the author’s own.