Students learn about packaging applications with a guided tour of IPS Packaging's Fountain Inn distribution center.
On Wednesday, May 25, 2016, fifth grade students from Fork Shoals Elementary School, sponsored by the Fountain Inn Museum, visited IPS Packaging's corporate headquarters and warehouse distribution center in Fountain Inn, South Carolina. Learning more about real world packaging applications and engineering, the students saw packaging equipment, supplies, and the newly installed CAD table that our on-staff Package Engineers use to create custom packaging solutions for customers around the United States.
Students from Fork Shoals school listen intently to Jamie Medlin, Corporate Risk Officer, as he speaks to them during their site visit on May 25, 2016.The students also visited Grainger's Greenville distribution center and Faurecia's Greenville manufacturing facility to learn about industry in the area, both located within minutes of the IPS warehouse. The Upstate of South Carolina is home to more than 1,400 manufacturing companies, from small, single-entity facilities to large, international firms who have chosen the area as their North American headquarters.
The students are focusing on learning more about careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). With so much opportunity in the Upstate in STEM, showing students early about real world applications is critical to keeping homegrown talent in the area.
"We're hoping to be able to better engage students in the development of STEM fields in the state and throughout the country," said Jamie Medlin, IPS Packaging's Corporate Risk Officer and the group's tour guide. "We also introduced them to distribution as a business model and the importance of distributors to the larger business community, as well as the concepts of warehouse operations, inventory control, and materials design."
Since its founding in 1976, IPS Packaging has always striven to improve the communities in which they operate. Hosting events to help educate kids on the future of the packaging industry is just one of the ways that that company is reaching out to better serve the local Upstate community.
IPS Packaging has distribution centers in Fountain Inn, SC; Orangeburg, SC; Charlotte, NC; Greensboro, NC; Memphis, TN; Lakeland, FL; and Ontario, CA. These distribution centers provide packaging supplies, engineering services, equipment, and service to customers around the country.
