Building Partnerships & Growing Our Florida Manufacturing Ecosystem

For FLATE, technician education in Florida is a continuum that blends the effects of Career and Technician Education (CTE), post secondary education (Florida's Technical Colleges and Florida's State Colleges), apprentices (Florida Dept of Education), nationally recognized workforce readiness credentials (MSSC-CPT), and specific manufacturing improvement instruction (FloridaMakes).  The concept is to have manufacturing related career pathways available as a student's skill and knowledge sets develop.  Providing good options to students as they progress will lead to the well-rounded, work-ready technical workforce Florida’s manufacturers need. 

This month, FLATE and FloridaMakes launched a partnership project to connect Florida's regional manufacturers with their State, community and technical colleges.  The Regional Workforce Education Workshops focus specifically on connecting State College Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing Technology programs with Florida manufacturers and their Florida’s Regional Manufacturing Associations. Working directly with FloridaMakes’ Director of Network Engagement and Director of Manufacturing Talent Development, the goal of the regional workshops is to bring manufacturers and college educators together to explain each organization’s assets, needs, and any barriers that limit their collaborative work.

Each of the 10 Workshops shops distributed around the State will also define a project that the RMA, educational institution/s and others can pursue together within a six-month time period. We are excited about this opportunity to bring our educational partners at 26 state and community colleges together with the large network of manufacturers currently engaged in with the Regional Associations and FloridaMakes.  In the end, we hope to build stronger collaborations between all participating partners to develop to enhance the manufacturing ecosystem in Florida. We will be back in the coming months with updates and the results of the regional projects, and the best practices that are revealed. If you are interested in participating in any way, don’t hesitate to contact, Dr. Barger (barger@fl-ate.org).