Grant County manufacturers Syzygy Tile and Mule Creek Adobe participate in national event

By Susan Dunlap

sdunlap@scsun-news.com on Twitter @SCSunNews

Courtesy photo Adobe bricks laid out at Mule Creek Adobe yard in Mule Creek, about 58.5 miles from Silver City. Mule Creek Adobe is participating, along with Syzygy Tile, in Manufacturing Day to show visitors what's like to manufacturer their products.

SILVER CITY >> Syzygy Tile and Mule Creek Adobe, two Grant County manufacturers, are participating in the nationwide Manufacturing Day on Thursday. Both manufacturers are offering tours of their facilities for anyone who wants to get a glimpse of what their processes are like.

Jennifer Sinsabaugh, operations director for Manufacturing Extension Project, said 78 manufacturers are officially listed in Grant County. She said the five top manufacturing industries in the county are concrete, paving and asphalt manufacturers; commercial printing manufacturers; research and development and engineering service manufacturers; food product and bakery manufacturers; and furniture manufacturers. The businesses list themselves through Dunn and Bradstreet, so Sinsabaugh said there may additional manufacturers in Grant County who are not officially listed with the government.

Courtesy photo The 76-year-old machine Mule Creek Abode manufacturer Susie Jerome will demonstrate with on Thursday. This machine can make 6,000 to 8,000 adobe bricks a day.

The national effort was designed to showcase modern manufacturing and generate interest in engineering, design or production careers. According to a news release provided by Manufacturing Extension Project, about 30,000 New Mexicans are employed in the manufacturing sector.

Syzygy Tile employs about 20 people in downtown Silver City. Patrick Hoskins, showroom manager for Syzygy Tile, said the downtown business is getting involved in Manufacturing Day because they want to stress that their work is about employing people, not about automation.

"We're doing it by hand with employees, not big machinery," Hoskins said.

Hoskins will lead the tours, which will get started at 10 a.m. Thursday and continue each hour until 2 p.m. The tours will take about 40 minutes and workers will be making tiles as they usually do. Visitors will get a first-hand look at what really goes on behind the scenes at Syzygy Tile.

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Grant County manufacturers Syzygy Tile and Mule Creek Adobe participate in national event