MT Magazine May/June 2023

FEATURE STORY

MAY/JUNE 2023

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solving the skills gap in the manufacturing workforce. Without a growing, robust, continuous cohort of CTE teachers, it will be ever more challenging for U.S. manufacturing to solve the skills gap. In Smartforce Development, we are working together with our extensive network of educators and administrators at schools as well as policymakers at both the state and federal levels to create meaningful policies and legislation and to seek funding to develop a CTE teacher incubator program that would address the teacher shortage in mechatronics. Mechatronics, or automated manufacturing technology as some educational institutions refer to it, and CNC machining programs are the workforce incubators in the near and emerging future of U.S. manufacturing. Mechatronics represents the educational area where many of our future automation and robotics technicians and engineers will come from, as well as our manufacturing technology field service technicians and engineers. We simply must have CTE teachers available in the classroom to teach the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to these in-demand workers. The Manufacturing Mandate If it’s been some time since you’ve read the AMT Manufacturing Mandate, or you weren’t aware that AMT has made these policy recommendations that affect our industry, I encourage you to read the mandate further at AMTonline.org/products/ manufacturing-mandate. AMT’s Smartforce Development recommendations in the Manufacturing Mandate go beyond ensuring that we have skilled CTE teachers. We have also made recommendations to modernize apprenticeships in the United States; that small, medium, and large manufacturing companies alike get in sync with educational institutions to adopt industry-recognized standards and credentials in the U.S. manufacturing workforce; and that credentials, microcredentials, and badging should become a more prevalent means by which we measure how individuals have progressed on their personal continuous life learning journeys. Meeting these recommendations will have the net effect of providing U.S. manufacturing with a more ready and able workforce as technologies continue to change. AMT’s other Manufacturing Mandate policy recommendations cover two additional important topics:

1) Harnessing the power of manufacturing technology to spur innovation and R&D investment. 2) Injecting predictability and stability into tax, global trade, and regulatory systems. Each of the AMT Manufacturing Mandate areas of focus have a subset of approximately five to six topic recommendations each and were co-authored by my AMT colleagues: Amber Thomas, vice president, advocacy; Pat McGibbon, chief knowledge officer; Tim Shinbara, chief technology officer; Catherine “Cat” Ross, director, Smartforce Development; Ed Christopher, vice president, global services; and Ryan Kelly, general manager, San Francisco Tech Lab. For more information or assistance with workforce development or current and emerging technologies in your local area, please contact Greg Jones at gjones@AMTonline.org or Cat Ross at cross@AMTonline.org.