Public-Private Partnership To Address High-Tech Industrial Technology Maintenance Skills Gap

By Edward Cardenas

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - A public-private partnership has been formed to improve and expand training to fill open positions in the industrial technology maintenance workforce.

The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), Detroit-based Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT) and Ivy Tech Community College have partnered to launch the initiative by fall 2016.

"Manufacturing enterprises—especially those serving the defense and transportation sectors —continue to embrace new light weight metals and technologies, adding advanced technical requirements to critical jobs already going unfilled because workers do not have the required skills," said Larry Brown, executive director, LIFT, in a release. "This is an unprecedented partnership among our new manufacturing innovation institute, a national credentialing body and a premier statewide community college system collaborating to address the workforce needs of our industry partners and their supply chains."

Organizers state the partnership will work on enhancing and expanding training to fill the current openings and prepare a new workforce for the field which encompasses the maintenance, troubleshooting and improvement of complex machines and automation systems.

The initiative will focus on developing "high quality training programs" by creating the first-ever industry standards for educating and training the industrial technology maintenance workforce; training instructors from community colleges across the Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and preparing the future workforce with skills and credentials necessary to enter and advance in the field.

According to organizers, job postings for industrial technology maintenance workers is growing in the 5-state LIFT region, which includes Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Job postings have climbed 60 percent within the region between 2011 and 2014, and it is expected to remain strong, as one quarter of the region's workforce will be eligible for retirement within the next decade.

"While employers are facing a real-time skills gap, job vacancies and competitive wages—which can average up to $25.00/hour—mean that opportunities abound for motivated people looking to secure good jobs in a growing, technology-driven field," said Jim Wall NIMS executive director, in a release.

The initiative will focus on building high-quality training programs by:

• Rolling out the first-ever industry standards for educating and training the industrial technology maintenance workforce;
• Training instructors from community colleges across the entire region; and
• Equipping a competent workforce with the knowledge, skills and credentials they need to enter into and advance in the field.

Additionally, Ivy Tech will launch a new instructor training facility to prepare 50 instructors to deliver the training, and NIMS will bring to market credentials that certify individuals' skills by Fall of 2016.

"As the first national instructor training facility for this field, Ivy Tech's goal is to lay a solid foundation and become a beacon for other training programs responding to the demand," said Thomas J. Snyder, president, Ivy Tech Community College, in a release. "We have a responsibility to the communities we serve to build a first-rate workforce pipeline that has access to the most high-quality and economically relevant training and credentials."

For more information about the industrial technology maintenance standards, visit http://nimsready.org/industrial-technology-maintenance/