A.S.ET Advanced Manufacturing Updated! Now it’s “Automation and Manufacturing”

FLATE’s current NSF grant funding has been used to gather industry input on Florida's Advanced Manufacturing associate in science engineering technology (A.S.ET) specialization. We’d like to thank all the industry partners and all the ET program managers and faculty who responded to surveys to update the Florida Frameworks (Standards and Benchmarks) to meet manufacturing industry needs in the changing technological landscape. 

The task is now complete, and the document will be posted soon on the FLDOE site for the 2026-2027 academic year.  Since the changes are considered an “update” to the existing specialization, the "old" Advanced Manufacturing Framework will be in a “teach-out” period for the next two academic years, and the specialization with updated skills will be called Automation and Manufacturing going forward.

The standards of the new frameworks are shown in the figure below. Industry partners across the state told us that their emerging needs include (1) networking skills, as more equipment and machines become digitally connected, and (2) data skills like collecting, cleaning, interpreting, and visualizing data. These are the two major additions to the old Advanced Manufacturing Frameworks. 

Although we received plenty of input and discussion about cybersecurity skills, ultimately, the industry decided that technicians should focus on practicing good cyber hygiene and knowing who to contact in the company if something suspicious is observed. There is a reference to cyber skills in the Engineering Technology Technical Core standards and benchmarks, where it is mentioned as “…work in a safe and secure…”. This provides flexibility for faculty and programs to incorporate cyber hygiene into the curriculum. 

Please review the new Frameworks for Automation and Manufacturing below. If you have any questions or would like a copy of the new Framework, please contact FLATE at events@flate.org.