2024 Manufacturing Week Field Trip

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 intention of the project is to open students' eyes to the possibility of a career in manufacturing, thus strengthening the workforce pipeline and our local economy.

This year, we started our day 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 a process of etching and hand painting. He even had the students design their own wine bottle, picked a winner at random, and will be delivering them a custom (empty!) wine bottle with their design on it!

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

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

Our final stop was with 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 the really drove home the scale of the work being done here in Napa.

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