On October 2, Bay Cities welcomed 70 students, educators, potential candidates, and community members to our Pico Rivera, California, headquarters for Manufacturing Day 2026.
For many of our guests, it was their first time inside a working manufacturing facility. They spent the day learning how retail packaging and in-store displays are designed, tested, printed, cut, manufactured, and prepared for the retail floor.
As Bay Cities celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, Manufacturing Day also gave us an opportunity to look ahead. The future of manufacturing depends on introducing new generations to the people, technology, and range of career opportunities that keep the industry moving.
Seeing Modern Manufacturing in Action
Manufacturing Day is designed to give students, educators, and community members a firsthand look at what modern manufacturing is really like.
After an opening presentation from Bay Cities employee-owners and leadership, guests learned about facility safety and put on the appropriate safety gear before heading onto the production floor.
During guided tours, they saw equipment and processes used throughout the development of retail packaging and displays, including CAD tables, ISTA testing equipment, digital printers, and cutting and finishing machinery. Demonstrations helped visitors understand how an initial design progresses through prototyping, testing, printing, production, and final assembly.
Guests also had the opportunity to build a box themselves. The hands-on exercise offered a simple but revealing look at structural design and how considerations such as material, strength, assembly, and product protection influence the finished package.
For our customers, those interconnected steps support the packaging and display programs they rely on to reach the retail floor. For our visitors, seeing the full process helped demonstrate just how much thought, coordination, and expertise can be behind something they may encounter in a store every day.
Meeting the People Behind the Process
Although automation and digital technology continue to transform manufacturing, people remain at the center of the work.
Throughout the day, guests met employee-owners working in structural design, prepress, printing, cutting, testing, operations, technology, and other areas of the business. They were able to ask questions about the equipment, the skills different positions require, and the paths employees took into their current roles.
Those conversations continued over lunch, when visitors had time to speak more informally with Bay Cities employee-owners and leadership about career opportunities and daily life inside a manufacturing company.
As a 100% employee-owned company, Bay Cities was especially proud to let our own people lead these conversations. Our employee-owners understand their work in a way that cannot always be captured in a presentation or job description. They can speak directly about the challenges they solve, the knowledge they have gained, and how their individual contributions connect to the work of the larger team.
That same collaboration matters to the brands we serve. Bringing a packaging or display program to life requires people with different areas of expertise to communicate, solve problems, and work toward a shared outcome.
After 70 years in business, Bay Cities has seen manufacturing evolve considerably. The equipment, technology, and skills may continue to change, but the industry will always depend on curious people who want to build, improve, and solve problems.
We are grateful to everyone who joined us for Manufacturing Day 2026, as well as the Bay Cities employee-owners who shared their time and expertise. We look forward to seeing what the next generation of manufacturers will create—and to opening our doors again next year.
Interested in learning more about Bay Cities or discussing an upcoming packaging or display program? Contact our team to start a conversation.
