America's Next Manufacturing Workforce: Promising Practices in Education and Skills Building

Abstract

The promising practices presented in this report demonstrate some of the most encouraging approaches for education and skill building of America’s new manufacturing workforce. These practices have been selected by a panel of experts from business, government, and education who serve on the MForesight Education and Workforce Development Working Group (EWD). This report summarizes a sampling of replicable and scalable promising practices being pursued to ensure that America builds an educated, skilled, and ready workforce. MForesight has not endorsed any particular product or method in presenting these promising practices, and is pleased to invite learning institutions, professional organizations, and manufacturers to submit descriptions of additional programs and initiatives serving similar purposes. In this way, MForesight hopes to build a community of practitioners and learners to help build an educated, skilled, and ready advanced manufacturing workforce. Concurrently, the EWD will continue its work to translate the key characteristics of these promising practices into policy and investment guidelines for government, industry, and educational enterprises that will support efforts to bring such practices to scale.