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The State of Smart Manufacturing Workforce and Education and Strategies to Address the Challenges

INTRODUCTION

The popular press is replete with reports about the current need for manufacturing workers, and the forecasts indicate that the situation will become even worse in the future.¹ The United States faces a shortage of individuals for the manufacturing workforce and, in particular, those knowledgeable about smart manufacturing across all levels (e.g., production workers, technology developers, and engineers). This message is affirmed in reports prepared by consulting groups and was a repeated pronouncement from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine smart manufacturing workshops.² The observations point to the need to incentivize individuals to pursue education and training in manufacturing and, in particular, smart manufacturing. Such incentives may include scholarships, paid apprenticeships, employer-sponsored learning, tax credits for demonstrated employer investments in talent and pipeline development within their communities, on-the-job learning, and wage increases upon completion of courses and/or certification. Barriers that inhibit individuals from pursuing education and training in manufacturing must be addressed. Based on the documented skills and competencies required, which are critical and foundational for a workforce development

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¹ E. Karp, 2021, “The Case for Raising Manufacturing Wages,” Forbes, March 2, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ethankarp/2021/03/02/the-case-for-raising-wages-in-manufacturing.

² State-of-the-Art Smart Manufacturing and Future Directions and Needs (February 6, 2023); Education, Training, and Workforce Needs for Smart Manufacturing (February 28, 2023); and Potential Broader Impacts of Smart Manufacturing (March 7–8, 2023).

strategy for smart manufacturing, the effort will include the development and widespread adoption of smart manufacturing education and training curricula and certification including microcredentials and badges throughout all educational levels (from high school through graduate education) and for the incumbent workforce that may require upskilling. Utilizing certification as a mechanism to validate individuals and their specific skills and competencies as well as to align training and education at schools and workforce organizations to ensure the system is preparing individuals with the industry-required knowledge and skills is critical.

For more than a decade, manufacturers have reported difficulty attracting workers into entry-level and middle- and high-skilled positions in U.S. factories. A report by the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte found that about 80 percent of manufacturing executives interviewed for its study indicated that worker shortages were negatively impacting their business.³ Moreover, the study anticipated that the need for various human, technology, and other specialized skills will rapidly increase with the adoption of smart manufacturing technologies, further exacerbating the skills shortages that manufacturers face.⁴

In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment was low and labor markets were tight. Despite the recession in 2020, labor markets remained tight during the pandemic and its aftermath. Many employers economy-wide have had trouble recruiting workers. Several factors have contributed to the worker shortage and skills gap in manufacturing, and understanding the causes that underlie these shortages requires attention to specific manufacturing issues. Some of the factors include wages, onshoring, industry and career perceptions, pace of technology advancement, aging workforce, and lack of enrollment and pipeline in manufacturing education programs. The negative perceptions among many groups are a long-standing challenge for the manufacturing sector. A nationally coordinated effort is necessary to make progress on this front.

Another factor that may impact progress in workforce education and training in smart manufacturing is logistical barriers. Given the variety of current and future learner groups—that is, new employees, existing employees, future employees, etc.—program formats will need to be flexible to accommodate their different needs and constraints. This includes the timing of offerings and other issues that impact potential students (e.g., childcare during training sessions and travel to in-person sessions). With respect to formats, varied and flexible options could include apprenticeships, bootcamps, open and online enrollment courses, degree programs, short courses, and on-the-job training. The appropriate option in a given case would depend on the knowledge and skill development needs of a specific

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³ P. Wellener, V. Reyes, C. Moutray, and K. Hartin, 2022, “Competing for Talent: Recasting Perceptions of Manufacturing,” Deloitte Insights and the Manufacturing Institute.

⁴ Ibid.

individual. Thought must also be given to such issues as pricing, session frequency, and location (e.g., in-person, online [synchronous and asynchronous], hybrid).

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE WORKER SHORTAGE

Factors contributing to the worker shortage include the decline in relative wages in manufacturing. While in the past manufacturing jobs were widely seen as offering a pathway to the middle class for individuals without college degrees, that is less the case today. A recent survey of 1,000 workers commissioned by the Manufacturing Institute found that respondents commonly believed that jobs in services and retail offered better wages and benefits than jobs in manufacturing.⁵ Recent studies of trends in manufacturing wages support those perceptions. Wage growth in manufacturing production and nonsupervisory occupations has fallen short of wage growth in many service sector occupations. According to studies by researchers at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve Board, the average hourly earnings of production and other nonsupervisory workers in manufacturing in 1990 were about 6 percent above the average for such workers in the private sector; since 2018, they have been about 5 percent below that average.⁶ Nonproduction and nonsupervisory workers in manufacturing, however, continue to earn a wage premium of about 10 percent relative to these workers in the private sector.⁷

Many factors potentially contributed to the decline in the average wages of production workers in manufacturing relative to those in other sectors. Among them are the increase in global competition for manufactured goods, the growth of offshoring practices by U.S.-based manufacturers, unionization, and automation of some manufacturing production processes. While each of these forces has tended to reduce the demand for manufacturing workers and depress wages over the past two decades, the fact that manufacturers now appear to have an especially difficult time recruiting workers suggests that wages are too low to clear the market and are contributing to the current worker shortage.⁸ In the wake of pandemic

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⁵ Ibid.

⁶ K. Harris and M.D. McCall, 2019, “The Relative Weakness in Earnings of Production Workers in Manufacturing, 1990–2018,” Monthly Labor Review, December, Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/pdf/earnings-of-production-workers-in-manufacturing-1990-2018.pdf.

⁷ K. Bayard, T. Cajner, V. Gregorich, and M.D. Tito, 2022, “Are Manufacturing Jobs Still Good Jobs? An Exploration of the Manufacturing Wage Premium,” Finance and Economics Discussion Series, Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Board, https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/files/2022011pap.pdf.

⁸ Reflecting this problem, the Manufacturing Institute indicated that manufacturers may need to raise compensation to better attract workers. Recent commentary in the business periodical Forbes similarly made the case for raising manufacturing wages (E. Karp, 2021, “The Case for Raising Wages in Manufacturing,” Forbes, March 2).

supply chain difficulties and geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, U.S. manufacturers have begun to reshore some operations. For example, some evidence points to a recent uptick in reshoring⁹ and increased support among chief executive officers with manufacturing capacity to move some capacity back to the United States in the next 3 years.¹⁰ Construction of new manufacturing facilities has jumped by 116 percent.¹¹ Recent trends will increase demand for manufacturing workers and could exacerbate the difficulties manufacturers face in recruiting workers.

Particularly for entry-level positions, many manufacturers use staffing agencies to fill vacancies. Today, staffing agency hires account for an estimated 9 to 10 percent of production workers in U.S. factories.¹² In some cases, manufacturers turn to temp agencies when they have trouble recruiting workers or to screen workers for permanent positions. The use of temp agencies, however, may worsen the problem of attracting talent because workers rarely receive benefits in these temporary positions, their wages are often lower than the wages of direct-hire employees, and most workers want permanent jobs.

Reflecting these factors, workers in core manufacturing jobs in the United States today have far lower wages relative to comparable private-sector workers than they did at the start of the century. Recognizing its contribution to the worker shortage, the Manufacturing Institute noted that manufacturers may need to increase wages to compete with other local employers.¹³ Yet, in view of other countries’ comparative advantage of cheaper labor costs that contributed to offshoring by U.S. companies, some argue that the United States should instead leverage its comparative advantages in advanced technologies within the manufacturing sector and offer higher-paying job opportunities in advanced and smart manufacturing. This transition in workforce composition (to a higher-skilled labor force with specialized proficiencies and competencies) coupled with increased demand, owing to onshoring and public policies encouraging U.S. investment in manufacturing,¹⁴ may eventually result in a higher average salary in the manufacturing sector, attract

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⁹ Reshoring Initiative, 2023, Reshoring Initiative 2023 Q1 Data Report, https://reshorenow.org/content/pdf/2023_Q1_data_report.pdf.

¹⁰ Kearney, 2022, America Is Ready for Reshoring. Are You? https://www.kearney.com/service/operations-performance/us-reshoring-index.

¹¹ U.S. Census Bureau, 2022, “Manufacturing Housing Survey,” https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/mhs.html.

¹² M. Dey and S. Houseman, 2023, “The Rise of the Contract Workforce in US Manufacturing and Its Implications for Worker Skills Measures,” Paper presented at the Conference on Outsourcing and Its Implications for Workers, University of Chicago, June 15–16.

¹³ P. Wellener, V. Reyes, C. Moutray, and K. Hartin, 2022, “Competing for Talent: Recasting Perceptions of Manufacturing,” Deloitte Insights and the Manufacturing Institute.

¹⁴ See, for example, the CHIPS Act, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4346 and Buy America, Build America, https://www.commerce.gov/oam/build-america-buy-america.

and retain skilled workforce, and solve the current problem of worker shortages. As a final comment, all too often in the past the United States squandered its leadership in a given technology area by moving manufacturing offshore; beginning with manufacturing, international competitors then gradually assumed control of the entire technology area. In the coming years, the United States must continue to grow its expertise in advanced and smart manufacturing so that it can be a leader in the development, creation, and commercialization of 21st-century technologies.

PERCEPTIONS THAT MANUFACTURING LACKS GOOD CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Between the business cycle peaks of 2000 and 2007, manufacturing employment in the United States fell 20 percent. Manufacturing employment fell sharply again during the Great Recession of 2008 to 2009, and, although it recovered somewhat in the 2010s, sector employment is still about 25 percent lower than at the start of the century.¹⁵ The employment losses experienced in the first decade of the 2000s were widespread and unprecedented. With relatively little hiring in manufacturing, some youth found work in other sectors, and the manufacturing workforce aged. Given the mass layoffs, plant closures, and declining or stagnant employment of the 2000s, parents and career counselors steered students away from manufacturing, and high school and college graduates largely did not see manufacturing as offering stable employment and promising careers. This has been further exacerbated by an overall lack of awareness and understanding by the general American population of the myriad of career pathways in a seemingly hidden industry of rewarding careers.

The manufacturing sector, like all other industries, faces unique difficulties and has areas where substantial growth is expected. Although there are many exciting and fulfilling employment options in manufacturing, there are several factors that affect the perception of career opportunities in the sector.

Diversity and Inclusion

The manufacturing industry has historically struggled with diversity and inclusion, particularly when it comes to gender and minority representation in managerial, professional, and technical occupations.¹⁶ The innovation, originality,

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¹⁵ Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Current Employment Statistics,” https://www.bls.gov/emp.

¹⁶ Although today women remain greatly underrepresented in production occupations, Black and Hispanic workers are overrepresented in these jobs. See Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022, “Employed Persons by Detailed Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity,” https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm.

and performance of the workforce as a whole can all be improved by making an effort to recruit and retain people from a variety of backgrounds.

Skilled Labor Shortage

The need for highly qualified people in manufacturing is growing as technology develops; that being said, there are not enough competent people with the required technical knowledge and skills. Collaboration between educational institutions, industry partners, nonprofits, and governmental organizations is necessary to provide effective education and training programs (e.g., train-the-trainer, bootcamps, apprenticeships, professional development experiences, short courses, degree programs, and corporate training) that give people the skills they need for positions in modern manufacturing.

Perception and Public Image

The perception that manufacturing offers few good employment chances has persisted because of the thinking that ignores the industry’s substantial accomplishments and bright future. The outdated perceptions of manufacturing as unclean and monotonous ignore the revolutionary power of automation and technology. Robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing, and the Internet of Things are among the cutting-edge technologies that modern industry has embraced. These technological advancements have dramatically changed how production is done, which has increased the demand for highly qualified specialists with skills in data analysis, process optimization, and programming. Jobs in manufacturing now call for knowledge of things like predictive maintenance, digital twin simulations, and machine learning (ML) algorithms. There will be an even greater number of job opportunities as manufacturing gets more digitalized for those with specific knowledge in these industries, yet there is a significant disconnect between perceptions and reality. To change this perception, a national effort is needed to change the “manufacturing narrative.” Coordination is needed among manufacturers and education providers to support the brand message via their respective marketing and communications functions. This includes engaging K–12, continuing education, technical, business, and economic institutions, as smart manufacturing is related to and interacts with all of these sectors, not just the more classical technical sectors (e.g., universities and community colleges).

Continuous Learning and Professional Development

With the ongoing emergence of new technologies, procedures, and methodologies, the manufacturing sector is rapidly evolving. Manufacturing professionals

must continue their professional development to remain competitive. People can be empowered to adapt to shifting industry dynamics and open up new career options by fostering a culture of lifelong learning and providing resources for upskilling and reskilling. With respect to academic and professional development courses and other resources, some national-level entity is needed to establish resources and share best practices that perhaps inform or lead to national standards including accreditation, learning outcomes, and learning assets.

Leadership Development

To build a pipeline of qualified executives, manufacturing companies might profit from investing in leadership development programs. Driving innovation, handling complex processes, and fostering a great workplace culture all depend on effective leadership. The sector can expand its talent pool and guarantee the availability of qualified executives to steer the direction of manufacturing by giving leadership development a high priority. This may entail adding content related to advanced and smart manufacturing as well as including the use of manufacturing data in undergraduate and graduate programs in management, engineering, technology, education, and the sciences.

Skills Gaps

The shortage of workers for entry-level and especially middle-skilled positions is the result, in part, of reforms in high school curricula. Beginning in the 1980s, states began requiring more courses in core academic areas for graduation, and they simultaneously cut funding for career and technical education (CTE) classes.¹⁷ The sharp decline in manufacturing employment in the early 2000s and the perception that the jobs were not coming back helped spur a new wave of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) course requirements in high schools in some states. These requirements reflected a belief that all students should be encouraged to pursue a 4-year college degree. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of CTE credits earned by high school students fell by 14 percent between 1990 and 2009. In recent years, however, the pendulum may have swung back, as evidenced by growing interest in rebuilding CTE education programs in high schools.¹⁸

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¹⁷ B. Jacobs, 2017, What We Know About Career and Technical Education in High School, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

¹⁸ Ibid.

Accelerated Technological Advancements

The technology advancements mentioned earlier have not only changed the landscape of what is required for those matriculating through the education system and entering new careers but also put tremendous pressure on upskilling the incumbent workforce, which is the responsibility of employers. With the pressures felt by manufacturers in having unfilled jobs, the demand on existing workers is even greater, making it challenging to find time to do the training necessary to keep up with technological advancements. When looking to implement smart manufacturing in their operations, small to medium-sized employers are at an even greater disadvantage as they often are not only struggling to meet production demands with unfilled positions but also often do not have the expertise in-house to create a structured learning and development strategy for upskilling their talent. The bottom line is that technology is currently outpacing the overall workforce capabilities, resulting in an inability to leverage and harness all that technology could currently afford the manufacturing industry and the sectors that it serves such as automotive, defense, medical device, energy, and aerospace. Academic institutions, professional associations, and private and nonprofit organizations are often capable of delivering content (e.g., continuing education courses) in the face of rapid technological advancements. Leveraging programs with agile course approval processes and that can build or adapt courses and programs rapidly in response to new technologies is critical to meet demands.

LIMITED OPPORTUNITIES AND SKILL DEFICITS

In pondering why more college graduates do not pursue manufacturing as a career path, the committee noted that students’ interests are often piqued based on the experiences and opportunities to which they are exposed (e.g., industry internships, field trips, hands-on experiences, speakers, and engaging classroom topics). All too often, school opportunities that help students (from middle and high school through university levels) explore and consider manufacturing as a future career are limited or nonexistent.¹⁹

Several skills shortages exist in the manufacturing sector, which must be filled to suit the changing needs of the business. The manufacturing sector has some major skill deficits, including the following:²⁰

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¹⁹ J.R. Coleman, 2018, “Evaluating the Perception of Manufacturing Across Three Generational Populations,” Doctoral dissertation, Wingate University, https://www.wingate.edu.

²⁰ P. Wellener, V. Reyes, H. Ashton, and C. Moutray, 2021, “Creating Pathways for Tomorrow’s Workforce Today,” Deloitte Insights and the Manufacturing Institute, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/manufacturing/manufacturing-industry-diversity.html.

• Digital literacy: Digital literacy abilities are necessary since manufacturing processes are becoming more digital. Employees must be comfortable using automation systems, software, and digital tools. Modern industrial positions necessitate proficiency in data analysis, computer-aided design, computer numerical control (CNC) programming, process control applications, manufacturing execution systems, and enterprise resource planning systems. The combination of digital skills and classic mechanical operational skills is in short supply.
• Technical skills: There is an increasing need for people with technical abilities in automation, robotics, data analysis, programming, and machine learning as a result of the increasing integration of cutting-edge technology. The sector needs workers who can operate, maintain, and troubleshoot intricate systems and machinery. Additionally, there is a great demand for knowledge in fields like digital manufacturing, nanotechnology, and additive manufacturing.
• Professional skills: Although technical skills are crucial, professional skills hold prominent significance in the manufacturing industry. Effective collaboration and innovation rely on strong communication, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, and critical thinking abilities. Working efficiently within diverse teams and communicating ideas effectively play a vital role in facilitating process improvement, project management, and seamless operations. While resources for professional skills development are widely available across the country, learners would benefit from a national organization that can direct executives to appropriate programs. Such a national organization could also help identify missing content from extant resource offerings, make recommendations on best practices, and help to avoid duplicative efforts.
• STEM proficiency: STEM skills are vital in the manufacturing sector. However, there is a shortage of individuals with strong foundations in these fields. Proficiency in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer science is crucial for various roles in manufacturing, including design, process optimization, quality control, and research and development.²¹

THE FUTURE

In light of concerns about the loss of manufacturing capacity, the heavy reliance on foreign suppliers, and the implications of these trends for economic and national security, there is a growing consensus in the field about the need to reestablish robust supply chains and grow U.S. manufacturing capacity in priority industries.

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²¹ P. Osterman and A. Weaver, 2014, “Skills and Skill Gaps in Manufacturing,” Pp. 17–50 in Production in the Innovation Economy, R.M. Locke and R.L. Wellhausen, eds., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Future domestic manufacturing operations would need to be both internationally competitive and environmentally sustainable. Achieving such a goal will require large and widespread investments in smart manufacturing technologies; these technologies should be developed and deployed so that they complement workers’ skills instead of replace them. This, in turn, will require that workers—from those in assembly and labor positions to those in industrial engineering and leadership roles—acquire new skills. As such, continued monitoring and inventorying of skills needed for existing jobs and how they translate into new or evolving jobs as well as identification of gaps in knowledge suitable for short- or long-term upskilling initiatives are critical on a national level. As part of the recommendations, a suggested mechanism that addresses this on a national scale can be operationalized, utilized, and deployed locally in communities.

Yet, even without added skills requirements, U.S. manufacturers have had difficulty attracting qualified workers for at least a decade. Thus, the workforce is a major bottleneck, which threatens to worsen, in adopting smart manufacturing technologies and growing a competitive manufacturing sector. According to one estimate, 2.1 million jobs could go unfilled in manufacturing by 2030 if the worker skills shortage is not addressed.²² To tackle the problem, it is essential to promote the development of a smart manufacturing workforce by unifying public and private stakeholders, building more collaboration between academia and industry, and developing a system to help both beginners and incumbent workers to transition into productive members of a skilled workforce that matches industrial needs (including the use of apprenticeship programs and other direct-to-industry partnerships). The strategic objectives proposed in any national strategy for advanced manufacturing should address how to cultivate the workforce for smart manufacturing by (1) expanding and diversifying the talent pool; (2) developing, scaling, and promoting education and training; (3) strengthening connections between employers and education organizations; and (4) defining the steps and partners to accomplish it. Putting a particular emphasis on individuals with a STEM background and constantly innovating education and training systems are also crucial to a smart manufacturing future.

THE STATE OF SMART MANUFACTURING EDUCATION

This section reviews the current state of manufacturing education in the United States, discusses challenges in educating workers for a smart manufacturing environment, and points to the need for new policies to meet these challenges.

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²² P. Wellener, V. Reyes, H. Ashton, and C. Moutray, 2021, “Creating Pathways for Tomorrow’s Workforce Today,” Deloitte Insights and the Manufacturing Institute, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/manufacturing/manufacturing-industry-diversity.html.

Middle Schools

The role of middle schools in breaking the cycle of both a lack of awareness and misperceptions of the manufacturing industry and careers is significant. To fully address the needs of the education cycle and clear the path for young people to best understand the options and career trajectories afforded to them, career exploration must start in middle schools. In a pair of recent surveys by American Student Assistance, a nonprofit focused on career readiness, roughly two-thirds of high school graduates said they would have benefited from more career exploration in middle or high school, and 80 percent of high school guidance counselors said their students were “overwhelmed” by decisions about college and career.²³ There are national efforts under way with a newly formed nonprofit, the Coalition for Career Development (CCD), which was established to address many of the issues outlined in this report—specifically, around the lack of students in the pipeline for rewarding and in-demand careers, in large part due to a lack of awareness or misperception of those careers. CCD is an industry-led nonpartisan coalition committed to making career readiness the first priority in American education and dedicated to transforming career development through priorities including education reform, research initiatives, stakeholder engagement, and more.²⁴ CCD has completed much of the work not only to identify the challenges but more importantly to offer solutions and legislative changes that would address many of the issues identified in this report, including hands-on curriculum (discussed below). Based on this work, CCD is a logical partner for the Department of Energy (DOE) when taking action from this report.

High Schools

Vocational education has long been a part of many high school programs in the United States. However, it has become less common for students to take. This came about from a long process beginning in the 20th century owing to the belief that such a “hands-on” curriculum should be separate from the academic curriculum because a strong education in one would not help students prepare for a career reliant on the other. As separation between the paths grew, vocational studies came to be seen more as preparing students for low-status jobs, making them less desirable. This view surfaced for a number of reasons, including Bureau of Labor Statistics

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²³ K. Field, 2022, “More School Districts Are Starting Career Education Early, Aiming to Widen Kids’ Horizons,” https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/60363/more-school.

²⁴ V.S.H. Solberg, H.K. Donnelly, R. Kroyer-Kubicek, et al., 2022, Condition of Career Readiness in the United States, Alexandria, VA: Coalition for Career Development Center and the BU Center for Future Readiness.

reports²⁵ that detailed how college graduates tend to earn significantly more money over the course of their lives than non-college graduates. With education reform starting in the 1980s, a greater focus on preparing students for college emerged. This included more emphasis on academic courses and standardized testing. Vocational classes were seen as playing little role in helping students prepare for these.²⁶ This along with the high cost of operating vocational classes relative to the cost of other academic classes has made maintaining these classes less alluring to school systems. The worker shortage in these fields may lead to more interest in maintaining these programs, but significant help may come from a more integrated and refocused high school curriculum that includes access to technology and equipment, which emphasizes the value of both academic and vocational studies with greater inclusion of hands-on and work-based experiences (e.g., For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology [FIRST] Robotics). There are some existing programs in high schools; for example, the Indiana Manufacturing Competitiveness Center actively seeks out industry and education partners who are in need of talent to build systemic, customized programs that allow high school students to take specialized curriculum, gain on-the-job training, and obtain paid positions within industry, all before graduation. Upon graduation, these students move on to full-time positions or postsecondary programs that enable them to continue advanced training. Another example is SME Education Foundation’s Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education (PRIME), which receives corporate and state funding to place manufacturing equipment, curriculum, and other resources into high schools across the United States to ensure alignment between what happens in high school education and industrial needs. An evaluation of how to leverage existing programs like these could be used to create more widespread interest in smart manufacturing adoption. This would allow the federal government to assess existing models successful at aligning education to industrial needs before providing funding.

Community Colleges

Community colleges and high schools prepare students who are not pursuing a baccalaureate degree for jobs in manufacturing. Community colleges offer courses, certifications, and associate degree programs oriented toward manufacturing jobs. The rapidly evolving technologies in smart manufacturing, however, pose significant challenges in developing courses and keeping them relevant. Laboratory facilities and equipment are expensive and need to be replaced periodically.

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²⁵ Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022, “Education Pays 2021,” https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2022/data-on-display/education-pays.htm.

²⁶ E. Barba, 2015, “Cultural Change in the Twenty-First Century Shop Class,” Design Issues 31(4):79–90, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43830433.

Instructors need to undergo frequent retraining to stay up to date, and retention of qualified instructors can be difficult, in part because the salaries instructors can command in the private sector are higher than what community colleges (or high schools) can pay. Additionally, without accessible resources and national standards for course curricula, community colleges and high schools often are left to develop course materials despite their availability elsewhere. This has led to inefficiencies as well as considerable variation in the rigor and quality of programs across the country.

The Department of Education and various national manufacturing entities should join together to create new specialized high school and community college curricular models for manufacturing. The purpose is to offer students the opportunity to learn general and advanced manufacturing skills as well as to identify future career pathways (e.g., practicing manufacturer, scientific researcher, novel technology developer). Pedagogical resources are needed for new curricula that cover basic educational needs and have a special focus in manufacturing. The Manufacturing USA institutes and other organizations may provide feedback according to their needs and share some initial economic support for creating the infrastructure needed for these schools.

Colleges and Universities

The rapid development of smart manufacturing technologies poses challenges similar to those outlined above for educating engineers at the baccalaureate level. Four-year colleges and universities leading the development of smart manufacturing technologies have identified the need to redesign manufacturing education to embrace smart technologies. In some cases, courses have been developed and offered that bridge the gap between research and practical aspects to implement smart manufacturing technologies.²⁷ In order to sustain the progress made so far, various ongoing efforts should be supported to ensure an adequate supply of instructors who are well trained in these new technologies. One valuable source of such instructors is working professionals; such individuals could be hired part time as contractors, which generally represents an economical option. An additional benefit of engaging working professionals, who are working at the cutting edge in industry, is that their knowledge and skills are “current.”

Within the United States, there are several ongoing technical education activities within community and technical colleges. Such projects are essential to address the critical need for well-trained instructors who can effectively impart their knowledge

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²⁷ M. Hernandez-de-Menendez, C.A. Escobar Díaz, and R. Morales-Menendez, 2020, “Engineering Education for Smart 4.0 Technology: A Review,” International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing 14:789–803, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12008-020-00672.

and expertise to future generations of manufacturing professionals. More efforts from colleges and universities are needed to deliver online courses and professional workshops to incumbent workers. Efforts must be continued to develop a sufficient number of well-trained instructors for the manufacturing workforce. Both educational and commercial entities are needed to ensure that instructors are up to date in terms of new technologies. Colleges and universities need to continue interactions with industry to prepare the future workforce according to its needs; of course, this means a continuous improvement process with respect to manufacturing curricula. Colleges and universities could benefit from clear learning outcomes, learning resources, desired competencies, and skills required relating to in-demand jobs described by the recommendations included in this report. By clearly mapping skills to careers in smart manufacturing and providing guidelines and best practices, universities and colleges will be even better positioned to deliver locally relevant programs.

Efforts have been made by engineering graduate schools (and through advanced undergraduate technical electives) to educate students about the concept of smart manufacturing and address the existing gaps that need to be filled for its successful implementation. For example, some universities²⁸ have taken steps to enlighten students and equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills in the field of smart manufacturing. Some have developed online professional certificate courses to meet the industry’s demand for expertise in smart manufacturing technologies. These courses provide industry stakeholders with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with smart manufacturing. By bridging the gap between theory and practice and offering a range of specialized courses, universities have responded to the growing significance of smart manufacturing. These courses allow students to gain hands-on experience and engage with industry partners, enabling them to develop the necessary skills to navigate the complexities of smart manufacturing. The increasing attention given to smart manufacturing has led to the emergence of additional professional courses in the field. These courses cater to individuals who are keen to enhance their understanding of smart manufacturing technologies and their applications.

However, despite these educational initiatives, a great deal of fragmentation remains at strategic levels for many reasons. Government policies and guidelines for smart manufacturing that could significantly accelerate transformation are lacking. Organizations such as the United States Council for Automotive Research, the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), Manufacturing x Digital (MxD), the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII),

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²⁸ See, for example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (https://professional.mit.edu/course-catalog/smart-manufacturing-moving-static-dynamic-manufacturing-operations) and Purdue University (https://admissions.purdue.edu/majors/a-to-z/smart-manufacturing-industrial-informatics.php, both accessed on October 12, 2023).

SME, and other Manufacturing USA institutes are collaborating to address this. There is now significant opportunity with the Inflation Reduction Act and the government investments in smart manufacturing, alternative fuel sources, new technologies, electrification, and environmental sustainability. These are substantial new opportunities to enhance existing organizations and expand smart manufacturing education within organizations such as tech hubs, industry demonstrations, and AI institutes. Government frameworks and incentives are needed to focus the mission of smart manufacturing and the targeted education that are essential to acceleration and widespread adoption of smart manufacturing technologies. To address this, it will be crucial for governments and industry bodies to collaborate in establishing well-defined guidelines and practical frameworks. These guidelines should cover areas such as data security, data interoperability, a networked industry in workforce training, and a roadmap for the successful implementation of smart manufacturing technologies. Additionally, governments can play a pivotal role in promoting and supporting the adoption of smart manufacturing technologies. Through grants, tax incentives, and research funding, they can incentivize organizations to invest in smart manufacturing. Collaborating with educational institutions, governments can also develop specialized programs and certifications that align with industry demands, ensuring that future professionals are equipped with the necessary skills to drive the implementation of smart manufacturing technologies.

Incumbent Workers

A comprehensive report conducted by Korn Ferry²⁹ highlights a concerning projection that more than 85 million job vacancies will remain unfilled globally by 2030, primarily attributable to the scarcity of suitably qualified candidates. This predicament necessitates concerted efforts from both corporate entities and governmental bodies. Companies bear the responsibility of providing or sourcing necessary training and upskilling programs for their employees, while governments must undertake a thorough reassessment of their education systems to align with the contemporary demands of the workforce, which would be informed by and established through the mechanisms outlined in the report recommendations. Despite the growth observed in upskilling initiatives, several significant challenges persist in adopting smart technologies, particularly among small and medium-size manufacturers (SMMs). Insufficient resources pose a substantial hurdle, impeding the effective implementation of comprehensive training programs. Additionally, accurately identifying and comprehending the extent of the skills gap represents another crucial challenge that requires careful consideration and examination.

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²⁹ Korn Ferry, “2030: The Very Human Future of Work,” https://www.kornferry.com/insights/briefings-magazine/issue-30/2030-the-very-human-future-of-work, accessed November 2023.

These manufacturers have little support to help them make informed decisions. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program serves a vital role in providing technical support to the numerous SMMs around the United States; however, the MEP staff within organizations in each state vary in their knowledge about the latest smart manufacturing technologies and therefore in their ability to advise SMMs on these options. A successful example of how this can be addressed is illustrated with the Manufacturing USA institute CESMII and the nonprofit organization SME joining forces and partnering with MEP programs to work with employers to support the onboarding, upskilling, and retention of employees in smart manufacturing. CESMII, SME, and MEP organizations are currently working together to align their individual strengths and expertise in driving national change and to address the challenge head-on. This is but one example, but it is far from enough. The question posed is how to take this, other efforts, and other MEPs and scale them much more broadly and quickly in the United States and determine the best model for deployment and sustainability locally. Whether a curriculum exists is only a first step; of greatest importance is whether it is built to a standard, accessible in the market, scalable, user-friendly, sustainable, and consistent with accreditation (e.g., Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) and regulatory frameworks. The imperative to cultivate advanced competencies within the workforce has emerged as a crucial factor in propelling the proliferation of smart manufacturing.

The federal government, through DOE, the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Commerce (DOC), etc., has established a number of manufacturing innovation institutes, which are aligned to the Manufacturing USA network.³⁰ The Manufacturing USA institutes have assumed an important role in education and training by facilitating the expansion and elevation of the manufacturing workforce by establishing robust linkages between industry and equitable education and workforce development systems. Each institute has a specific focus (e.g., smart manufacturing, cybersecurity, digital manufacturing, additive manufacturing). CESMII was established by DOE specifically to address smart manufacturing. CyManII, MxD, and Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) all have direct alignments with smart manufacturing, with respective and complementary focus areas involving data and software modeling for management, control, automation, and autonomy in advanced manufacturing. The other Manufacturing USA institutes (e.g., America Makes [additive manufacturing], LIFT [lightweight metals], Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment Institute [RAPID, process intensification], and Electrified Processes for Industry without Carbon [EPIXC, electrification]) all take advantage of smart manufacturing and inform

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³⁰ The website for Manufacturing USA is https://www.manufacturingusa.com, accessed October 26, 2023.

its application. Each institute is pursuing efforts related to education and training. These efforts often seek to address underserved communities, ensuring inclusivity and equal access to opportunities. Moreover, collaborative initiatives between the institutes and their industry partners have resulted in the effective training and education of thousands of individuals, including workers, students, and educators, thereby nurturing a proficient and skilled workforce that can thrive in the evolving landscape of manufacturing.³¹ However, given their research and technology development mandates and current levels of funding, structure, and focus, the laudable efforts of the Manufacturing USA institutes are far from sufficient in addressing the size of the workforce education and training challenge. They are better suited to identify, demonstrate, and inform the skill requirements and competencies by occupation for those responsible for the actual training and education. Below this report illustrates the activities of the three institutes that most directly pertain to smart manufacturing:

1. CESMII has devised a comprehensive Smart Manufacturing Workforce Development Model, the main goal of which is to utilize pre-existing education and workforce training systems in order to cultivate the necessary workforce for smart manufacturing.³² To achieve this, a comprehensive national inventory is being created, encompassing the existing smart manufacturing workforce and education programs across the country. By conducting a gap analysis, the CESMII study will assess the alignment between the smart manufacturing core competencies demanded by industry and the educational and training programs currently available. Based on its findings, training modules and a certificate program model could be developed by partnering with the larger workforce systems, including nonprofits and academia, with a specific focus on enhancing the skills and knowledge of the existing workforce.
2. CyManII is establishing the Cyber for Manufacturing (C4M) Hub, the main objective of which is to prepare 1 million skilled workers by 2026.³³ The primary focus of the C4M Hub will be to equip manufacturers across the nation with innovative cybersecurity strategies and knowledge, emphasizing the implementation of cyber-informed, secure-by-design architectures.

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³¹ B. Jacobs, 2017, What We Know About Career and Technical Education in High School, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

³² ThinkIQ, 2023, “Key Findings from 5 Year Survey of Industry 4.0 Smart Manufacturing Practices,” https://insight.thinkiq.com/blog/key-findings-from-5-year-survey-of-industry-4.0-smart-manufacturing-practices.

³³ Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII), 2022, Cybersecurity Manufacturing Roadmap, https://www.readkong.com/page/cybersecurity-manufacturing-roadmap-2022-public-version-4777079.

2. New curriculum, online courses, and a cyber range (i.e., a virtual environment that uses simulated digital networks to detect, identify, and mitigate cyberattacks through realistic business-oriented scenarios) activities will be implemented.
3. MxD led a project called “Jobs Taxonomy” to explore the impact of digital technology on manufacturing. It identified 165 job roles that will be created or transformed by digital technology.³⁴ The project produced a workforce playbook with job descriptions and educational requirements for each role. Universities are using the taxonomy to develop their curricula, while private-sector companies are referring to it for staffing decisions. Further work by MxD led to the creation of The Hiring Guide: Cybersecurity in Manufacturing.³⁵ MxD Learn is a vehicle for developing a nascent 3-year digital curriculum for training workers as well as for providing 4-week programs to increase manufacturing career awareness among high school students.³⁶

In the long term, an economic investment in education is necessary to ensure that the workforce of the future has the skills and interests needed by the smart manufacturing industry. Redefining the educational system at all levels is needed. Incentivizing industries to offer more competitive salaries and apprenticeships may help to retain workers and become a more attractive sector for the labor market.

In the text above, several reasons have been discussed for the present shortage of qualified workers. Some of these reasons lie outside the reach of what the government can do (e.g., average manufacturing wage is too low), while others are issues that the government is well positioned to handle. This latter set of issues includes improving the perception of manufacturing through positive comments

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³⁴ Manufacturing x Digital (MxD), 2019, Jobs Taxonomy: Defining Manufacturing Jobs of the Future, https://www.mxdusa.org/taxonomy.

³⁵ MxD, 2021, The Hiring Guide: Cybersecurity in Manufacturing, MxD Hiring Guide | MxD, mxdusa.org.

³⁶ MxD, n.d., “Learn: Workforce Development,” https://www.mxdusa.org/focus-areas/workforce-development, accessed October 26, 2023.

by opinion makers and a marketing campaign, and ensuring that individuals are adequately trained and educated for the workforce.

• from all organizations, especially those who are knowledgeable about advanced education and training.
• Adopt an engagement philosophy that embraces an inclusive approach, provide metrics for this approach, and clearly state that setting goals to meet these metrics is an important element of any proposal. It is well known that diverse viewpoints generally produce more robust solutions; thus, achieving a diverse workforce is an important strategy for obtaining the best solutions.
• Be responsive to the differences in manufacturing from sector to sector, and from region to region. The manufacturing industry includes many different sectors (e.g., discrete parts, materials, food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, semiconductors, consumer products). The relative importance of these various sectors varies around the country. It is also worth noting that the specifics of any education or training program may change from sector to sector. Any national education effort should be responsive to the differences in manufacturing from sector to sector, and from region to region.

Moreover, as was made clear during the National Academies’ workshop on education, training, and workforce needs for smart manufacturing,³⁷ owing to changing demographics, diversity is no longer optional, and manufacturers must include diverse perspectives on Requests for Proposals, Broad Agency Announcements, Funding Opportunity Announcements, Small Business Innovation Research grants, etc. if they want a vital, high-performing workforce. In fact, the presentation indicated that former inmates represent the largest underutilized talent pool in the United States.

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³⁷ See National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2023, “Workshop on Education, Training, and Workforce Needs for Smart Manufacturing,” webcast, https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/02-28-2023/workshop-on-education-training-and-workforce-needs-for-smart-manufacturing.

ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR SMART MANUFACTURING EDUCATION AND TRAINING

According to a survey of manufacturing companies performed by CESMII and SME in spring 2022, the number one challenge encountered while pursuing a smart manufacturing strategy is a lack of skilled talent (59 percent of respondents).³⁸ This challenge was greater than the cost of implementation and complexity of integration, indicating that even when the technology challenges are solved, the well-documented talent challenges in the United States from early career to those retiring will erode and impede the ultimate potential progress. Employers not only seek new talent with requisite skills but also need to upskill their existing workforce from production and engineering to leadership positions to lead a smart manufacturing transformational change. At the same time, skills are becoming more modularized, and interdisciplinary roles are emerging (e.g., mechanical meets electrical, operational technology meets information technology, business meets production), which adds pressure to an ecosystem not built well for fast, customized, and scalable deployment models for education and training. This particularly impacts academic institutions, which are typically not agile enough to meet the immediate and emerging needs of the industrial base; traditional forms of education are generally not built to scale nationally.

This points to concerns with the education system’s ability to produce new workers with smart manufacturing skills and for employers to upskill existing talent. Participants in the committee-led workshop described the current lack of infrastructure in the educational system to support incoming talent with the

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³⁸ Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII), 2022, “2022 Smart Manufacturing Market Survey,” https://www.cesmii.org/smart-manufacturing-sustainability-study.

skills needed for the emerging nature of smart manufacturing. And, as employers are pressured to develop a talent strategy for upskilling existing workers, most often they lack the internal infrastructure and knowledge to do it, especially with small to medium-sized organizations. In 2019, 97 percent of manufacturing facilities had fewer than 250 employees and yet this accounted for the majority (54 percent) of manufacturing employment in the United States.³⁹ To resolve this challenge, employers often seek assistance from local and national organizations, educational institutions, training organizations, and the like. Unfortunately for manufacturers, there is a lack of alignment, clarity, standards, and continuity to structurally, systematically, and strategically address talent development for smart manufacturing within a company or community. This commonly results in employers either taking no further action due to an unclear path forward or attempting to orchestrate the disjointed system and infrastructure with less than desirable outcomes in the end. For employers with operations in several states across the nation, the challenges of building structured programs for consistent competency development across an enterprise increase dramatically with a lack of national strategy, structure, and resources. An employer is required to piece together various programs locally, which differ by community and exist in some areas and not others, even in situations when the training or education sought is foundational in nature and fairly agnostic to a region. When federal or state funding does become available to support curricular development, the lack of any coordination across the country means that all too often the same learning and competency development objectives are pursued over and over. The proposed goal of the National Academy for Smart Manufacturing Education and Training (NASMET; see below) is to think nationally and act locally; create and communicate national standards; and strengthen and optimize the existing educational and training systems that individuals, communities, and employers rely on so future funding is solving unmet and high-demand needs versus inadvertently funding the development of something already created.

Additionally, this aforementioned challenge is exacerbated when looking at education, especially in K–12. Providing turnkey support of curriculum, hands-on learning laboratories, and teacher training all aligned to industry needs is a model that has been done successfully in STEM fields and at national scales. This model equips schools to engage and teach the youth with trusted and quality resources.

Finally, across the three workshops that were held by the National Academies in conjunction with this study, perhaps the most frequent comment from speakers was that more education and training of the workforce was needed. This observation highlights a national need to establish programs for all learner groups (e.g.,

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³⁹ U.S. Census Bureau, 2023, “County Business Patterns,” https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html.

high school, postsecondary, and incumbent workers) in smart/advanced manufacturing. The knowledge and skills gained from such programs, via classes, degree programs, short courses, apprenticeships, etc., are important to the defense (e.g., DoD), economic vitality (e.g., DOC and the Department of Labor), and energy security (e.g., DOE) of the United States.

Any effective initiative to address the smart manufacturing workforce needs a centralized education and training resource (which the report will refer to as the NASMET concept) for the U.S. smart manufacturing industry that could be chartered to pursue the following options:

• Functioning as a “think tank” for manufacturing workforce and education serving government, industry, and academia. Convening relevant groups to gain insights, garner support, and work to consensus, all in support of smart manufacturing.
• Inventorying the programs available to address the smart manufacturing education and training needs compared to the industrial needs as a basis for closing programmatic gaps.
• Evaluating the efficacy of programs in terms of longitudinal studies of the workforce—for example, determining which programs are most successful over time for continuous improvement to the national approach as well as providing return on investment case studies for employers.
• Assessing and advising on the state of smart manufacturing education and training in the United States and necessary steps to address barriers and challenges.

• Researching, understanding, and communicating the current and 5-year forecast of industrial demand for smart manufacturing knowledge and skills needed by role (emerging, current, and future).
• Influencing and assisting in setting standards for smart manufacturing education and training programs nationwide, and engaging with and assisting existing accrediting organizations.
• Serving as a national resource and clearinghouse for manufacturing-related learning materials and best practices.
• Connecting to middle schools, high schools, community colleges, and universities about new career opportunities in smart manufacturing and pathways to these careers. Ensuring that such outreach targets underrepresented groups, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities.
• Developing and curating resources and curricula that are foundational across sectors, allowing the more advanced, tailored, and customized topics to be developed within specific educational institutions, innovation institutes, MEPs, and other organizations as appropriate.
• Assisting employers, organizations, and institutions with locating existing resources or developing courses or curricula not already in existence.
• Supporting and informing the existing accreditation bodies to smart manufacturing education programs from secondary through postsecondary education and graduate education.

This effort would be greatly informed by the relevant Manufacturing USA institutes that have a critical collective role and existing strength in mobilizing the industrial base to advocate and communicate the skills and workforce needs. The insights and blueprints from the Manufacturing USA institutes are an important foundational step and framework in building a structured and sustainable national workforce strategy to build the requisite smart manufacturing competencies of today’s and tomorrow’s workforce. Additionally, NASMET can play several important roles in the community, including the following:

• Serving in a leadership capacity to help schools, colleges, and universities develop and sustain their manufacturing education programs.
• Providing turnkey support of curriculum, hands-on learning laboratories, and teacher training, all aligned to industry needs deemed applicable to K–12.
• Coordinating and supporting the development of fellowships, traineeships, and continuing education programs for both new and incumbent workers.
• Coordinating and supporting (i.e., funding and subsidizing) the development of a national teacher and instructor bootcamp to ensure that the appropriate support and infrastructure for teachers and instructors is in

• place to teach smart manufacturing in the classroom. This could be done by tapping into existing programs that successfully do similar programs for welding, CNC, additive, and mechatronic instructors. Note that NASMET will ideally emphasize “train the trainer” (or educate the educator) efforts.
• Promoting smart manufacturing education and careers via NASMET, in coordination with the Manufacturing USA institutes.

NASMET’s effect would be to sustain a strong and innovative manufacturing workforce nationwide. NASMET would serve as a standing organization whose sole mission would be to support and sustain the nation’s manufacturing workforce and ensure U.S. competitiveness globally. NASMET’s goal would be to bolster, strengthen, accelerate, and optimize existing strong programs at national and local levels that work with students and incumbent workers (instead of competing with these existing programs). The desired result is faster, more efficient, and more effective programming that delivers talent aligned to skills and jobs in demand and frees many of those same organizations without the bandwidth, tools, abilities, and time to do the work defined by NASMET. As an example, Manufacturing USA institutes, such as CESMII, CyManII, and MxD, can ensure insights from staff and members to create a framework for action. In turn, they can ensure that there is infrastructure in place to execute the development, maintenance, and deployment of the associated curricula with resources to educate and train today’s and tomorrow’s talent. The institutes would continue to focus their workforce development efforts on informing the national needs and programs while also doing tailored, customized, and higher-level projects tied to specific research and technology projects managed by the institutes.⁴⁰

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⁴⁰ The mission of the National Academy for Smart Manufacturing Education and Training would be similar to the Merchant Marine Academy, which was created to ensure a robust and sustainable merchant marine workforce for the United States.

• Provide grants to high schools and community colleges for smart manufacturing training laboratories.
• Fund the existing manufacturing institutes and the National Academy for Smart Manufacturing Education and Training workforce development programs to develop leverageable curricula as a national repository of learning materials for industry, high school, community college, university, adult education, and independent training in smart manufacturing for future and incumbent workers.

See Figure 3-1 for a timeline regarding this recommendation. The committee considers the short-, medium-, and longer-term timeframes to be in the ballpark of 2, 4, and 6 years, respectively. Industry is implicitly included in that it informs academia, government, associations, and consortia on the skills gaps experienced in their efforts to implement smart manufacturing, helping to define the training and curricula that are needed.

INVESTING IN THE SMART MANUFACTURING WORKFORCE

Integrating humans into the loop and decision-making processes within smart manufacturing systems is vital to address ethical and social implications, while

simultaneously ensuring scalability, automation integration, and flexibility in operations and upgrades. While automation technologies, AI, and ML enhance efficiency and productivity, human involvement becomes crucial to address complex and unforeseen situations that require contextual understanding, creative problem-solving, and ethical decision-making.

To achieve scalability, any organization would need to develop a workforce that possesses a diverse range of skills, including digital literacy, data engineering, data analysis, and cognitive capabilities. By nurturing a skilled and versatile workforce, manufacturers can ensure that as production demands increase or evolve, human workers can seamlessly integrate with automated systems, optimizing productivity while maintaining ethical standards.

Furthermore, integrated automation systems play a crucial role in smart manufacturing, streamlining processes, and enabling efficient collaboration between humans and machines. However, this integration poses challenges in terms of interface design, communication protocols, and coordination. Human–machine interfaces should be intuitive, user-friendly, and designed with human cognitive capabilities in mind. Clear communication channels, feedback mechanisms, and shared decision-making platforms need to foster effective collaboration and enable human workers to understand and influence the behavior of automated systems. This integration promotes human-centric automation, in which workers are empowered to make informed decisions and contribute their expertise while leveraging the capabilities of automated technologies.

Flexibility in operations and upgrades is another critical aspect of implementing smart manufacturing. Manufacturing processes and requirements are subject to change due to evolving customer demands, technological advancements, and market dynamics. Flexibility enables manufacturers to quickly adapt and respond to these changes, optimizing productivity and customer satisfaction. In this context, the integration of humans into smart manufacturing systems becomes essential. Human workers bring a level of adaptability, creativity, and tacit knowledge that complements the capabilities of automated systems. Additionally, developing modular and scalable infrastructure allows for easier upgrades and reconfigurations, enabling manufacturers to implement new technologies and adapt manufacturing processes without significant disruptions.

By integrating humans into the loop and embracing their unique capabilities, smart manufacturing systems can achieve scalability, automation integration, and flexibility in operations and upgrades. This complete approach ensures the ethical and responsible implementation of technology, promotes meaningful employment, and enables organizations to navigate the dynamic and evolving landscape of modern manufacturing while addressing social and ethical implications. Direct investment from the federal government is advisable to achieve the goals. Specific recommendations follow.

Because it is important to know that these new programs are effective, the committee also makes the following recommendations.

• Option: Create a career exploration requirement in middle school with a federal mandate that covers it; the content delivered should be flexible in terms of career pathways.
• Option: Offer tax incentives (i.e., via extension of the advanced manufacturing credits) for corporations and grants for small and medium-sized businesses for funding job training and education.
• Option: Support wraparound services for students and workers with mentoring and implementation services to assist those pursuing entry-level positions with the requisite support systems (e.g., childcare, travel, connections for scholarships).