Industry 4.0 Seminar Series

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the teaching practices of manufacturing educators to implement evidence- and industry-based practices on the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in regional manufacturing businesses. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC), a two-year technical college, aims to prepare incumbent and new technicians with the skillsets needed to support a diverse, evolving technological infrastructure by building the knowledge of post-secondary educators on emerging technologies utilized in industry.

The future of manufacturing and employer economic competitiveness is dependent on the use of technologies that bridge the mechanical and digital worlds on the manufacturing floor. The concepts of Industry 4.0 were first introduced less than a decade ago and are quickly making waves across manufacturing, creating skills gaps not only among the incumbent workforce but also in higher education where instructor advanced education and “real world” experiences pre-date this arrival.

New strategies are needed to address this knowledge gap and produce rigorous curricular updates to ensure industry has the IT and manufacturing skillsets needed to operate in this smart environment. The Industry 4.0 Seminar Series project will demonstrate a model for adapting post-secondary program content to upskill technicians that can be implemented in manufacturing-dominate regions of the nation, as well as in non-manufacturing industry sectors, such as transportation and logistics, building design, energy, healthcare, and public safety, where Industry 4.0 technologies are increasingly being adopted.

The Industry 4.0 Seminar Series conference and meetings project will convene regional post-secondary educators from the fields of Information Technology (IT) and Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 technology subject-matter-experts, business representatives, and instructional designers. Three questions will be addressed through the multi-session seminar series: What technologies are currently and/or anticipated to be adopted by regional/state employers?

How is industry applying this technology? And, how can higher education translate the skillsets of these technologies into new and existing certificate, technical diploma, and associate degree programs to produce graduates trained to meet the changing needs of industry? The results of this seminar series will be used to inform new teaching practices that better align with workforce needs in relation to emerging and evolving technologies, ensuring that new and incumbent workers have the necessary IT and manufacturing skillsets.

This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.