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WILKES-BARRE — Eric Joseph Esoda, president and CEO at the Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center (NEPIRC), has announced that its Manufacturing Day 2021 Best Practices Summit & Expo, scheduled for Friday, Oct. 1, at the Mohegan Sun Pocono Convention Center, has been rescheduled to May 6, 2022.

Esoda noted that the decision to reschedule was made out of concern over rising coronavirus case numbers in the region and the need to keep the region’s manufacturing workforce, which constitutes the majority of attendees, healthy and safe.

“The decision to postpone was not made lightly,” noted Esoda. “While individual employer locations provide levels of protection, sanitation, traceability and overall safety relative to COVID-19, large-scale public gatherings lose some of those safeguards. Given the large turnout expected at our event, our Board of Directors and leadership team believed the best course of action was to hold Manufacturing Day in the spring rather than next month, with hopes that COVID-19 will be less concerning then.”

Billed as the largest manufacturing expo, best practice conference and networking event in northeastern and the northern tier of Pennsylvania, NEPIRC, according to Esoda, was expecting more than 60 exhibitors, some 400 attendees and numerous industry experts to participate in the day-long event in addition to dozens of high school students who were to participate in a career awareness tract.

“Our advanced bookings and sponsorships were well ahead of expectations for this year’s event,” Esoda added. “However, our concern for the health and safety of staff, exhibitors, speakers and attendees were too important for us to overlook. Our decision to reschedule was a prudent one from a human relations perspective.”

The May 2022 event will also take place at Mohegan Sun.

“Staff at Mohegan have been outstanding and we look forward to a great event there in the Spring,” Esoda said. “Meanwhile, we will continue to engage with our partners to develop interactive, virtual programs that advance the positive impacts that manufacturing has on this region. In particular, we will continue to engage with students to orient them on the abundant employment opportunities available in this sector.”

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Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.