Why do you think
manufacturing education is important?
SAM AJLANI: For over 30 years there has been a
lack of training for manufacturing technicians and technologist. This is because of the advent of computers in
secondary schools across America in the mid 80’s and early 90’s. It was a low cost venture as opposed to high
cost consumables in the industrial trades.
That is where most of the technicians in manufacturing came in from, the
industrial trades. On top of this,
educators tried to steer students away from those type jobs and recommended
college degrees. Today we are struggling
to find qualified technicians and technologist.
Adding to this, the “Baby Boomers” are retiring and are the last
generation until now that were trained in the industrial trades. Naturally manufacturing is scrambling to fill
positions with the skills needed to maintain and run complex systems. This makes manufacturing education extremely
important!
ROB ADAMIAK: Manufacturing is extremely
important to the economy. Wealth is only created by growing, mining, or
manufacturing something. All other industries just move that created wealth
around. Manufacturing also has the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector—for
every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.81 is added to the economy. The
need to maintain and grow manufacturing is vital to maintaining or improving
the standard of living that we have in this country.
The
greatest challenge that we have in manufacturing is a supply of trained
employees. This challenge is growing due to the growing number of employees
retiring. Additionally technology is evolving at an exponential rather than at
a linear pace. This requires not only new hirers to be trained but current
employees to be trained in these new technologies. I cannot see a more
important initiative to save our economy than to expand training in
manufacturing and technology.
Automation
and other technologies negate the low wage advantage that other countries like
China and Mexico have. These technologies reduce the over-all number of
employees needed but increase the level of training needed for the remaining
employees to program and maintain this equipment.
The
manufacturing industry in Florida is extremely fortunate to have an
organization like FLATE to develop the statewide Engineering Technology
programs in the state colleges as well as supporting programs in the high
schools.
JAMES W. MAYNARD: The growing skills gap,
retirement of the current knowledgeable workforce, preparing for reshoring of
advanced manufacturing as increases in productivity offset low foreign labor
costs, etc. And while all are true, to me its importance is the chance to
ensure craftsmanship endures. Fewer and fewer of our kids actually know the
value of being able to produce something tangible, the critical thinking
involved, the benefit of failing well, and using what they learn to improve.
Even if their ultimate path leads them away from a manufacturing career, these
skill will serve them well and make them more valuable members of society.
As a Nominee, can you
outline some of your contributions to manufacturing and/or engineering
technology education and training at local, state and/or national level?
SAM AJLANI: For me, I have been teaching on
and off for fifteen years. I came out of
manufacturing and have over 30 years of experience. I was also a technician before obtaining my
Engineering degrees and I recognized the value of hands-on practical
application early in my career. The
issue was finding technicians to maintain equipment and keep production running
at maximum efficiency. The pool has been
shrinking for years. Once I started
teaching, it was my goal to not only supply manufacturing with technicians and
technologist, but to provide the highest competency possible. Therefore I have strived to build programs
that produce highly cross-functional individuals that can immediately make an
impact. Over the fifteen years I have
built several programs from obscurity to local, state, and nationally
recognized programs. Students are
immersed in practical applications and have competed and won or placed at state
and national competitions. Some of these
students have reset the bar or standards in competition with the highest
recorded scores and fastest times in those competitions. Most importantly, these programs have placed
hundreds in the manufacturing workforce to fill the gap for highly skilled
technical positions. Moving forward, the
next phase is incorporating national certifications which will embrace the
skills these students are currently learning.
ROB
ADAMIAK: I sit on the industry advisory committees for the College of Central
Florida (CF) President’s executive committee, the CF Engineering Technology
program, the CF Logistics program, the manufacturing related programs at the
Withlacoochee Technical College and the Marion Technical College, the Marion
Technical Institute, the Marion County Superintendent of Schools Workforce
Planning Committee and other committees supporting education in the region. I
am also on the hiring committees for filling open faculty positions for all
these programs.
One of the current programs that I am very excited
about is one in which I convinced the owner of a local manufacturer to turn his
warehouse operations over to a local high school to use as a logistics academy.
The students will graduate with real world, on the job experience!
I approached Machining-Training-Simulation, MTS, and
the representative from the FL DOE Apprenticeship department to use the MTS
program as a basis for a three year registered apprenticeship program. In less
than a year, the program with curriculum and competency benchmarks was
completed and approved by the state. The FL DEO would like to see it expanded
throughout the state and the US DOL Apprenticeship department would like to see
it go national.
I convinced CF to open its credit classes which are
part of their AS degree in Engineering Technology (ET) and certificate programs
to students as non-credit classes. This allowed working employees to take
classes in PLC programing, motor controls, blueprint reading, etc. without
going through the process of registering as a student. It also eliminated the
need for minimum size classes to hold training for these people outside the AS
program. Many of these students who had previously not considered going for a
college degree changed their mind after taking a class and now are registered
students in the ET program with some moving on to their bachelor degree and PE
certification.
JAMES W. MAYNARD:
Some of my career highlights:
·
I am one of the founding instructors of the NIMS
program at Daytona State College
·
I have a twenty year career as a Florida business
owner focusing in custom automotive design and fabrication
·
I founded the training Dept. at AO Precision MFG
·
I helped to design and implement the Manufacturing
Program at Pine Ridge HS
·
First Year Teacher of the Year at Pine Ridge HS
·
I won the grant to be the first Greenpower USA race
team in Florida
·
I also received several First and Second place
finishes in Regional races and engineering competitions in our first full year
as a program
·
Recognitions by the city of Deltona, Volusia County
School Board, and a State Senator for innovation and leadership
·
Piloted the growth of the Manufacturing program into
an Academy including partnerships with local industry to be a resource for
R&D, prototyping, and small run production.
Award
recipients are selected by the FLATE Industrial Advisory Committee members
following a review process, and using a standard rubric to guide their
selection from the information that nominees submit. Maynard, Ajlani, and
Adamiak were selected from a pool of distinguished nominees who have each made
a mark in manufacturing. The FLATE team recognizes the contributions of all the
nominees and winners and would like to congratulate them for their role in
advancing manufacturing education and training in Florida.
For
more information about the FLATE Awards please visit our webpage here, or contact Dr.
Marilyn Barger at barger@fl-ate.org.
