Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work

In episode 33 Mike and guest Aaron Osmond explore the cloud from an industry and workforce perspective. They discuss the need to increase the pipeline of technicians going into cloud technology and how emerging technologies are expanding the range of skills needed by technicians working in the cloud space. With the increasing demand for skilled technicians hear how companies like AWS Cloud services are partnering with higher education institutions and workforce agencies to integrate cloud education into existing programs.

In this episode we hear three different perspectives from representatives in a strategic partnership that is developing the pipeline of technicians for one of the most advanced manufacturing facilities, a semiconductor foundry.

In this episode, Mike talks with Drew Garretson, Director of Digital Experience for Ceres Solutions. Drew shares about Industry 4.0 in agriculture and the diverse skills and expertise of technicians and farmers that are impacting agriculture in the digital age.

In this episode, Mike talks with Carl Benttine, a Senior Electronics Technician at Hormel Foods. Carl shares his educational and workforce journey, in which he gained a variety of electromechanical, programming and troubleshooting skills that have led to a long career.

In this interview with Curt Yoose, an Agriculture instructor at Ridgewater College in Willmar, Minnesota, he discusses agricultural technology and education programs. He defines the field as “using technology to make producers, growers, farmers more productive, more efficient, and lessen their impact on the environment, using technology to do those things.” He explained that there are two types of technical applications in agriculture—one dealing with software and data components and another with hardware and electrical components. Not surprisingly, he says the skill in most demand is troubleshooting, requiring both soft skills and technical skills.

Before Jennifer Oddo became Executive Director of the Division of Workforce Education and Innovation at Youngstown State University, she spent a significant amount of time at IBM, where she helped them create their competency-based IT apprenticeship program, focused on “new-collar” jobs. "Many know apprenticeships in the trades and construction industry and they’ve had a lot of success in those areas. But what many don’t realize is that IBM, along with other companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Bosch, T-Mobile, and other organizations have really dusted off this program to reinvent them in the IT world… taking that competency-based approach…We also recognize that many of our academic institutions, frankly, can’t keep up with the pace of change and the pace of skill changes that are happening in the industry."

Rich Little, a welding engineer at United Launch Alliance, the space vehicle manufacturing company that manufactured the Atlas Delta and Vulcan Centaur launch vehicles, says that incoming welders will need preparation in the basics, including shield metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding. He adds that on top of that, it would be great for them: "to learn some computers, electrical, systems, robotics—and start to understand that not all welding today is shield metal arc welding anymore, and these systems get very complicated. So, it almost becomes an engineering level of understanding on many systems [and that] if a technician is trying to go into aerospace  or really any manufacturing discipline that there is, whether that be automotive, or shipbuilding… having a knowledge of cycle times and manufacturing efficiency is important."

Dr. Linda Molnar is a scientist and entrepreneur with more than 20 years’ experience in the life sciences and chemical industries. She's integrated her scientific research and engineering background with commercialization for startups and international government, and business environments. Currently, Dr. Molnar is a National Science Foundation Program Director involved with a very new program called the Convergence Accelerator. In this episode, she describes the program and its philosophy: "The premise for "convergence" research is that the big problems we're facing in the world today are not going to be solved by one discipline or one sector. We need to get the brightest minds in the world working across disciplines and across sectors to tackle the issues currently facing humanity. The "acceleration" part comes in when we're able to identify an area of convergence research that can result in deliverables for the American people in a three-year timeframe. By approaching big problems this way, we set ourselves up for having real positive impact for society."

It's a great time to start focusing on robotics and automation, says Chief Workforce Officer of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute, Lisa Masciantonio, because it will provide a lifelong learning journey with continuing opportunities for career evolution. Robotics and automation technologies and changing and expanding rapidly and that means that manufacturers need a workforce that can keep pace with the changes. Masciantonio sees a large skills gap that her Institute is addressing with new competency models, program audits and endorsements. In the podcast, she describes three levels of robotics technicians:

"We've created, with our experts across our ecosystem, a competency framework, focused on the Industry 4.0 robotic career pathways, where you look at the competencies at the robotic technician level. Those are the fundamental skills. Things like mechanical systems, maintenance and troubleshooting, electronics and controls, electrical systems, safety, robot programming, fluid power, PLC.

As they become more experienced, and they get more on-the-job training, they would become more specialized. They'd move into an advanced Industry 4.0 Specialist role.

Then a big gap in the manufacturing workforce is at the Robotic Integrator level. What we're learning that the manufacturers themselves are actually in need of very experienced people to focus on the internal workings of using that automated equipment or that robot. And they would be focused on really key, more applied technologies like augmented reality or virtual reality, simulations, offline programming——making sure that the systems are interoperable across the manufacturing floor."

Sarah Boisvert has put her 30+ years of experience in the design, development, and commercialization of high technology products, digital fabrication, laser machining and 3D printing to excellent use as the founder and CEO of the Fab Lab Hub, the Co-founder of the New Collar Network, and the author of the book, The New Collar Workforce. In this episode, she shares what her research has revealed employers – particularly in manufacturing – are looking for and the new ways that operators and technicians can demonstrate skills competency. "On the technical side, one of the most prevalent skills that people were looking for was digital skills. Today, if you’re running a welding machine, you also have to be able to look at a CAD design and determine what the parameters are."