Inaugural workshop looks at building a next-gen manufacturing workforce

In the race to modernize U.S. manufacturing, developing talent is as critical as developing technology. How can a research university like Virginia Tech prepare the manufacturing workforce that industry needs, both right now and in the future?

That was the driving question behind Virginia Tech’s Future of Manufacturing Workforce Workshop, a first-of-its-kind event that brought together academic researchers with representatives from 55 companies and 14 government organizations, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and the U.S. Navy. 

The workshop, supported by a three-year, $3.5 million Manufacturing Engineering Education Program grant from the National Defense Education Program, featured speakers, poster sessions, and lab tours highlighting the university's advanced manufacturing capabilities. 

“Workforce development and outreach are part of our land-grant mission,” said Christopher Williams, the L.S. Randolph Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of Virginia Tech Made: Center for Advanced Manufacturing. The center's launch was celebrated at the event. “As we revolutionize manufacturing, our goal includes not just advancing the technology but building the next-generation workforce capable of implementing these new tools, and that requires collaborating with industry and government partners.”

Keynote speaker Matt Sermon, the direct reporting program manager for the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base, said the Navy will need 250,000 skilled workers across the maritime industrial base over the next decade. By 2028, the submarine industrial base must deliver one Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine and two Virginia-class attack submarines each year while also sustaining the existing fleet and building more than 10 classes of surface ships.

“The Navy cannot meet the demands of tomorrow’s fleet alone,” he said. “We need partners at every level of education, including K-12, community colleges, and universities, together with industry and communities. Building the next generation of skilled manufacturing talent is not optional. It is essential to America’s security.”

Slade Gardner Ph.D. ’97, president of Colorado-based Big Metal Additive, has already encountered the gap in workforce preparedness, an experience that he hopes the Future of Manufacturing Workforce Workshop will help remedy. “Participating at the Virginia Tech Made event was an opportunity to share these imperatives with a motivated, world-class engineering institution to help shape the priorities of an advanced manufacturing–focused curriculum," Gardner said.

With expert faciliation by engineering education postdoctoral associate Hannah Glisson '18, M.Eng. '22, Ph.D '23 and Lisa McNair, professor of engineering education, more than 120 participants brainstormed what industry partners need from future manufacturing hires and how academia and industry can partner to meet those needs. Among the takeaways:

• The future of manufacturing is interdisciplinary. Future hires need to speak the languages of processes, materials, data analytics, and design.
• Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving are “make-or-break” skills that determine a hire’s success.
• Data literacy — including analytics and data-driven decision making — is emerging as an area of extreme importance. Industry leaders are clear: future hires must be able to work with data just as naturally as with tools and machines.

Conference leaders plan to release a summary report of their conclusions, making it openly available so that other higher ed institutions can strategize and respond. 

Faculty will also incorporate workshop feedback into their ongoing development of a “manufacturing spine” in the College of Engineering’s curriculum focused on building in-demand skills through experiential learning. In addition, as part of the grant, Bart Raeymaekers, professor of mechanical engineering, is leading the creation of sequences of interdisciplinary courses to form a “manufacturing track” across the college.

“What excites me about Virginia Tech is that you’re showing students that manufacturing is not a side subject,” Sermon said. “Whether they go into aerospace, naval architecture, or materials science, they learn how ideas become reality. That integrated approach is exactly what the maritime industrial base needs.”

It’s what other industries need as well, including aerospace, according to Rich Stark, a senior manager with Boeing. “The conference reinforced that by uniting students, faculty, and industry around advances in manufacturing and materials, we forge the next generation of makers who will keep our aircraft soaring," he said.