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LIFT, NIMS, Ivy Tech address high-tech industrial technology maintenance skills gap

The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), Fairfax, Va.; Lightweight Innovations for Tomorrow (LIFT), a national Institute for Manufacturing Innovation in Detroit; and Ivy Tech Community College, Portage, Ind., are partnering to enhance and expand training to fill open manufacturing jobs in states along the auto corridor.

The partners will prepare a new industrial technology maintenance workforce for high-tech manufacturing, which accounts for 60 percent of job growth from 2011 to 2014 in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

“Manufacturing enterprises—especially those serving the defense and transportation sectors—continue to embrace new lightweight 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. “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.”

There are currently 38,727 industrial technology maintenance jobs posted in the region. These jobs entail the maintenance, troubleshooting, and improvement of complex machines and automation systems that create efficient and productive manufacturing. To support the rapid deployment of new lightweighting technologies being developed at LIFT, workers will have to understand and be confident in using the latest advanced technologies, help integrate them into companies’ processes, and maintain their performance over time.

The initiative will focus on building high-quality training programs by rolling out the first industry standards for educating and training the industrial technology maintenance workforce; training instructors from community colleges across the region; and equipping a competent workforce with the knowledge, skills, and credentials they need to enter into and advance in the field.

In partnership with Ivy Tech, NIMS worked with more than 125 industry, education, and workforce development experts to develop the industry standards for the training programs and the credentials that will prepare industrial technology mechanics and technicians. 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 2016.

For more information on industrial technology maintenance standards and job demands, visit nimsready.org/industrial-technology-maintenance/.