Recently touring around Minnesota, Senator Franken made a stop at the prestigious Red Wing plant to see just what is involved in the manufacturing of a pair of the boots. With manufacturing being a key element in the Senator's tour, he showed his admiration of the work that goes into Red Wing production, praising their 'hallowed' contributions to manufacturing. In fact, he became such a fan of Red Wing that he bought a pair of their Heritage boots.
Senator Franken has been expressing his opinion of just how important manufacturing is in the economy, with maths, engineering, technology and science curriculum's at schools being vital towards creating an exceptional manufacturing workforce.
Speaking about his visit to Red Wing, Senator Franken had this to say: “I really wanted to visit Red Wing Shoes...They're a hallowed Minnesota manufacturer.”
“If you go to a manufacturing facility, it's very high tech...They need extremely educated people.”
He was also taken around Plant No. 2 of the Red Wing manufacturing factory where he saw the full production of a pair of their boots, before making a stop at their downtown store.
What has been made clear by Franken's visit is just how successful Red Wing have been in producing a skilled workforce. Instead of only employing skilled employees who already know how to make shoes, they are keen to employ people they believe have the potential to be trained up to become a skilled manufacturer. Thus, employees are hired and trained afterwards, allowing Red Wing to reproduce their exceptionally high standards.
Shoe President, Dave Murphy, also commented that last year saw their employment rise by 8 percent; a big contrast to those manufacturers who are continually struggling to find skilled persons to fill positions due to their lack of on-site training.
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