Industry 4.0 Skills for Manufacturing Technicians: Adjusting Engineering Technology Programs to Respond to Industry Identified Skills

The manufacturing workspace and the technician workforce that will support that space in the future is an important issue to deal with today. As Industry 4.0 technologies are integrated into manufacturing facilities around Florida, manufacturing technicians working in these facilities must prepare to acquire new skills and knowledge. Also, students must gain these skills prior to entering the workforce.

This project will infuse Industry 4.0 skills within both Florida's Engineering Technology programs and the manufacturing technician workforce. The project is leveraging findings from a prior award, Technician Future of Work Issues Caucus for Florida Community Colleges and Manufacturers. The Caucus identified Florida-specific technician workforce skills deficiencies and a statewide collection of Florida manufacturers willing to work on this problem.

The findings and the manufacturers will inform this project to develop a model for cooperative interactions on Industry 4.0 identified skill needs between Florida industry, state colleges, FloridaMakes (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extensions Partnership) and the Florida Department of Education.

The overall project goal will be to generate pathways that support future as well as incumbent technicians in Florida acquiring STEM knowledge related to Industry 4.0 (I 4.0) technologies. Two college certificates with credit articulation to all twenty-two Engineering Technology degree programs in Florida will be developed to support this goal. The first targets students in Florida's Engineering Technology associate's degree programs to assure they have manufacturer identified I 4.0 needed skills.

The second certificate will be a post-associate's degree technical certificate that upskills technicians and generates a pathway to STEM-related 4-year programs at state colleges and universities in Florida for people looking to continue their education. Project personnel will work directly with the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) to meet State Legislature expectations for Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses through FLDOE maintained Frameworks.

Professional Development activities will provide faculty additional expertise in I 4.0 technologies as defined during the project’s duration. It is expected that project outcomes will lead to increased student access to potential employers in all Florida community college service regions; active engagement of more Florida manufacturers and manufacturer organizations in manufacturing career and technical education; increased career advancement through the project's credit-bearing college certificates for current manufacturing technicians; broadened manufacturer's access to Florida State College resident expertise; and increased manufacturer statewide access to the FloridaMakes network.

Upon project completion, the five statewide organizations involved in the project (FloridaMakes Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Leadership Council and Board of Directors Technology Committee, Engineering Technology Statewide Industry Advisory Board, Florida Engineering Technology Forum, and FLATE) will have crafted duties that allows each to employ their own resources to execute their part in clarifying and then rectifying manufacturer identified technician skills deficiencies.

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.