The second
annual MAKE MORE Manufacturing Summit was a leadership-focused meeting designed
around connecting ecosystem stakeholders with the needs and realities of
industry leaders from the manufacturing sector. The Summit is produced by
FloridaMakes, the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) in
Florida. Well over 200 stakeholders and attendees participated in the event in
Orlando the last week of May. The Summit agenda included dynamic keynote
speakers, TED-style talks coupled with panel discussions that laid the
foundation for Florida’s manufacturing stakeholders, public and private, begin
to leverage their collective assets and capabilities. Ted talks and panel
sessions focused on workforce, business climate, and emerging technologies. The
goal of the annual event is to strengthen the industry collectively for a more
competitive manufacturing sector.
FLATE together with five of its community college partners
attended the MakeMore Summit. Sam Ajlani
from the College of Central Florida, Lara Sharp from St. Pete College, Dante
Leon from Daytona State College, Erik Christensen from South Florida College
and Rick Frazier formerly from Tallahassee Community College attended to learn more
about the state of manufacturing in Florida and, especially to learn more about
statewide current and future workforce needs. “Most manufacturers just don’t
know what great 2-year technical programs we have in Florida that support
manufacturers. Not only do we have
state-of-the-art labs, but we also have subject matter experts teaching every course in
every program. We offer flexible delivery, hybrid (in class and online), and
100% online courses. However, all manufacturing courses do have a hands-on component,
but most are offered at flexible times. Not only do the programs offer strong
technical skills, but students enrolled also learn important workplace skills.
And, the colleges provide many important wrap-around services for students to
help with transportation, child care, scholarships, and advising. Finally, the colleges
all have strong articulated pathways to 4-year engineering technology and
management bachelor’s degrees for graduates from their programs for continued
upward career mobility. All these industry representatives should contact FLATE
to get connected to their local community or state college Engineering
Technology program if they are not already working with them.”
Sam Ajlani was interested in the emerging technologies which
generated discussions about what new core and fundamental skills we would need
to integrate into our engineering technology and manufacturing degree
programs. “Technology is changing so
fast and is relatively cheap that the ROI for implementation of Industry 4.0
technologies can be fast realized. But companies must be up to speed, invest in
not only the technology and expertise to implement but also in training and
educating its workforce to get the maximum return on investment.” Again, this is an issue right at the sweet
spot of the 2-year technical manufacturing programs.”
Dr. Marilyn Barger, Executive Director of FLATE gave one of the
TED talks in the Talent Development session. Its vitally important the
manufacturers learn more about their state, community and technical college
programs. The college house great state-of-the-art laboratories for advanced
manufacturing that the taxpayers of Florida have paid for! She urged all attendees to get to know their
local college programs and program managers who can help each manufacturer meet
talent needs. She also urged everyone to help change the perception of
manufacturing. Our communities need to
know that manufacturing careers and jobs are high skill, high wage and now
provide work on the cutting edge of technology.
Kevin Carr, CEO of FloridaMakes, is singularly focused on
improving the productivity of Florida’s small and medium manufacturers. He was
excited to share an improvement in Florida’s manufacturing productivity and
urged the attendees to keep focused on improvements that could continue the
upward trend. This leading indicator of
the industry’s “health” reflects the strength of the business climate, talent
development, and new technology integration.
The event showcase provided a place for networking and for
visiting the finalists of the annual Small and Medium Business Excellence
annual awards. Thirty-three Florida companies were named as finalists after a
rigorous Sterling review and comprehensive site visit for this year’s Florida
Sterling Manufacturing Business Excellence Awards. The awards, recognizing high performing manufacturers in six categories,
are announced and presented at this prestigious statewide formal event. You can learn more about the SMBE awards at
the FloridaMakes website and learn about this
year’s winners!
You can learn more about the 2-year Engineering
Technology degree that supports manufacturing by contacting Dr. Marilyn Barger
(barger@fl-ate.org) or visiting the FLATE website.
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