WILMINGTON, DE—Dickinson High School’s Robotics Laboratory is an incubator where kids learn and use engineering and software skills to work with Lego and Erector Set-like creations they design and build. An outgrowth of the school’s STEM program, the robotics course began in 2010. Only a handful of kids enrolled the first year, but now about 100 of Dickinson’s 600 kids take a robotics class.

AIKEN, SC—Diesel engine manufacturer MTU America hosts an annual Girls Day event at its assembly plant here. The goal of the event is to educate young girls on careers in manufacturing and to encourage their interest in a typically male-dominated field.

Denver is called the Mile High City because of its location in the Rocky Mountains. But, a local college is poised to soar to even new heights because of aerospace manufacturing.

By a lot of measures, U.S. manufacturing is doing pretty well. Manufacturing employment is at its highest level since April 2010.

KNOXVILLE, TN—Innovative manufacturers are targeting schools to let young people know there’s more to manufacturing than pulling levers on an assembly line.

For example, according to the Precision Metalforming Association, 69 percent of U.S. metalworking companies have job openings. However, 91 percent of those companies are experiencing challenges finding qualified employees, and 42 percent describe that difficulty as “severe.”

CONCORD, NH—New Hampshire manufacturers are struggling with the dual threat of an aging skilled workforce and a lack of qualified factory workers.

MEXICO CITY—In an aggressive bid to move beyond low-wage factory jobs and toward an entrepreneurial economy, Mexico is producing graduates in engineering and technology at rates that challenge its international rivals, including its No. 1 trade partner, the United States.

CHICAGO—A coalition of regional and national organizations is sponsoring “Manufacturing Day,” Oct. 5, to highlight the importance of manufacturing to the nation’s economy and draw attention to the many rewarding high-skill jobs available in manufacturing.

MISHAWAKA, IN—Northeast Indiana has a peculiar problem. Manufacturers here are struggling to fill hundreds of job openings for skilled workers.