The skilled workforce

The world of manufacturing is no different. One of the main challenges is the growing diversity of the industry and the loss of focus by educational institutions in cultivating - Employers will come to us and say that we can find people that can maybe operate the machines, but they're not able to step in and take a sense of ownership of the project that's going on and branch out and do things in a more intelligent way or a more thoughtful way. formerly the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, - Well, the most important thing is diversability. I think you got to be willing to do many jobs in here. We're short on cross-training. Everybody comes in and they know their certain field, but then there's the issue of there's always other opportunity and there's shortcomings at certain times that we love to plug people in or offsite education and training, - Educational opportunities like manufacturing apprenticeship programs are often subsidized And students can graduate from manufacturing training programs with little or no debt. In fact, some of these manufacturing training programs provide on-the-job training where you can get paid to focus on applied learning in a manufacturing environment. for these companies. Right here at Davies, we are producing the kind of students that they can hire and feel confident that they could walk into any environment of local Rhode Island manufacturers and went to them Listen, we're looking to create workforce development programs for manufacturers. What are your areas of need? And that's where they kept hearing that same thing over so that's why we created the program. - We have a unique challenge here in our department because many of our students aspire to go on to four-year institutions and they want to develop or they want to eventually progress to where they're an engineer in electronics or electrical engineer. In Rhode Island, we also want a skilled workforce. That's challenging in and of itself where we want our students to go onto post-secondary school, our quality students we're graduating students who are knowledgeable in work ethic, So there is some push and pull on both ends but we also want them to experience but we also want them to experience that post-secondary education. - As people think about these kinds of trades - As people think about these kinds of trades and these kinds of skills and jobs, it's been great with the introduction it's been great with the introduction of new things like 3D printers. It's easily accessible technology, It's easily accessible technology, it's something that anybody really can just it's something that anybody really can just get started on and do, and I think that that's given get started on and do, and I think that that's given an entree into people discovering again an entree into people discovering again the thrill of making things. And often what I find is that people get into it because they like kind of the intriguing business because they like kind of the intriguing business of this little machine, squirting out plastic of this little machine, squirting out plastic and making things, and then they say, well wait, and making things, and then they say, well wait, I could just do that by hand. I could just do that by hand. And so the development of this new technology, oddly enough, has given people an entree back oddly enough, has given people an entree back into more fundamental and traditional ways of making things into more fundamental and traditional ways of making things and building a foundation from there to even make better use of the modern technologies. to even make better use of the modern technologies. - If you want to have an opportunity to join the workforce immediately after school, this can be a career for you. Successful completion of these training programs Successful completion of these training programs also can lead to high wage, high-demand careers also can lead to high wage, high-demand careers that tend to have better benefits than many other industries. than many other industries. So, as the demand for skilled individuals continues So, as the demand for skilled individuals continues to grow, and educational institutions to grow, and educational institutions are incentivized to meet this need, are incentivized to meet this need, opportunities to enter skilled trade opportunities to enter skilled trade and earn a high wage will continue and earn a high wage will continue to be available for many years to come.