CENTER TWP — Visitors at the Clearview Mall on Saturday may have found themselves shopping for more than fashion items.

They could have shopped for jobs.

The annual Butler County Manufacturing Consortium manufacturing expo at the mall gave people an opportunity to learn about manufacturing in the county.

Neil Ashbaugh, chairman of the consortium, said one of the driving reasons behind the expo is to get younger people interested in manufacturing.

“The world needs people to help build and make things,” Ashbaugh said.

He said he likes it when young people take an interest in items a company has at its display and begin asking questions.

“To me, that’s gold,” Ashbaugh said.

Another reason for the expo is to increase awareness of the variety of manufacturing in the county. He said many items made here are sent out for use nationally and internationally.

Additionally, components manufactured in the county are sent to other companies in different states and countries, which manufacture products that end up being sold in the county.

“I don’t think a lot of people realize that,” Ashbaugh said.

He said there are many job opportunities in manufacturing. Although many people may only think of machine operating, Ashbaugh said manufacturing requires a lot of support and office staff.

“Manufacturing isn’t necessarily what you envision,” Ashbaugh said.

Eight companies and schools were at the expo. Additionally, people from the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh demonstrated an experiment with liquid nitrogen.

Ashbaugh said that a few hundred people could stop by the event.

Kristen Bastaja, corporate recruiter for Penn United Technologies in Jefferson Township, said that company often has difficulty filling its skilled positions. She said that there are many opportunities in manufacturing.

“Manufacturing is alive and well,” Bastaja said.

Doug Bartosh, owner of Unimach Manufacturing in Clearfield Township and treasurer of the consortium, said he has gotten both new employees and new customers from past expos.

He too has had trouble getting enough skilled workers, and feels that there should be more young people getting interested in going to the technical school or apprenticeship route.

“College is not meant for everyone,” Bartosh said.

Ken Hilke, co-op coordinator for the Butler County Vocational-Technical School, places students in jobs. He said there are more open positions than students to fill them.

“Often times, I don’t have enough students to place in jobs,” Hilke said. “There are lots of jobs out there.”

He said that 70 percent of jobs do not require a four-year degree but do require some technical skills.

Carol Howryla, manager of economic development for the Community Development Corporation of Butler County, said that manufacturing is not what it used to be. It no longer is a “dirty” job, and now is more technology-oriented.

“People need to understand that manufacturing has changed,” Howryla said.

Karen Riethmiller, a professor of drafting and computer-aided machining at the Butler County Community College, has come to the expo since it began and said that the response mostly is positive.

One program at BC3 that has garnered a lot of interest from companies is a computer numerical control program, which creates a three-dimensional model on a computer, which then produces the object.

“All my students are working,” Riethmiller said.

Other programs that some companies are interested in robotics and metrology, which is the study of measurement, program.

“The skills that we need are the math skills and the problem-solving skills,” Riethmiller said.