FLATE Focus 

42nd ET Forum at Suncoast Technical College – Sarasota

The 42^nd state-wide Forum on Engineering Technology (ET Forum) held on March 28^th and 29^th was hosted by the Suncoast Technical College – Sarasota Main Campus. This was the first visit to Suncoast Technical College which provides quality technical education to meet workforce to address the issues concerning our field of technical education development and community needs with their programs in automation and manufacturing. This spring forum has been one of the most attended since 1996 with 70 participants from 17 FL State and community colleges, three technical colleges and three state universities. The Forum provided ET and related discipline area faculty administrators and educators direct interaction with industry professionals and Florida Dept. of Education program supervisors.

The Florida Engineering Technology Leadership Council and the Engineering Technology Forum was established in April 1997 at Seminole Community College (now Seminole State College). Since 1996 the ET Forum has been hosted in 23 Colleges around Florida.

The membership includes the department heads and the leaders of the technology programs in the State of Florida. The Forum is a viable means for industry and educators across the state to meet regularly to discuss issues of the educating of tomorrow’s advanced manufacturing workforce. The Forum is building capacity in faculty across the state and securing a community of practice around manufacturing and technology education in Florida.

This year theme of this Forum was innovations using technology and best practices related to technology education, AS to BSET articulation, industry collaborations, grant initiatives, professional development, issues forum, and included some of new projects and updates. Thursday sessions included topics such as technical trends and vendors’ round table, Florida department of education updates, PathTech LIFE updates with its new PathTech LISTEN grant, college updates, industrial and workforce roundtable, Suncoast technical college technical tour, articulations AS/BSET and new articulations. In addition, great topics were presented such as IPC-connecting electronics industries – educating/training the next generation, smart automation certification alliance (SACA), and National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3).

On Friday morning, the forum continued with more college issues, with discussions on how lab fees and what can and cannot be included. Other topics included – advanced technology updates, FLATE updates, and smart factory and eLearning. The meeting summary with more details, will be posted on FLATE’s wiki

PathTech LISTEN, is a newly awarded national interview study of Engineering Technology graduates by the University of South Florida-Department of Sociology. Currently the group is finalizing the interview questions and protocols. This survey study will focus on both educational and career pathways. For more information contact Dr. Will Tyson (wtyson@usf.edu).

ET Forum Survey results

A total of 30 attendees responded to the survey the following: an impressive 100% of attendees who responded to the survey said that they are planning to use the information presented at this workshop and they will use the information they have gained with a colleague or peers and that they will recommend the forum to other colleagues, 89% of respondents agreed that the forum was an excellent overall professional development value.

Special Thank you to the 2019 spring ET Forum sponsors for their generous support!

Bluegrass Educational Technologies, Hyatt Consulting Group, D. C. Jaeger Corporation, Learning Labs, Southern Educational Systems, Technical Training Aids, Suncoast Technical College

Presentations and material for the ET forum are available online at Made in Florida 2019 Spring ET Forum at SCSC. For more information, please contact Marilyn Barger (mbarger@flate.org).

FLATE Focus

Focus on Florida Apprenticeships

The concept of apprenticeships, how they are structured, and how apprenticeships have been integrated into the “workable education model” in Florida has been an ongoing discussion in past editions of the FLATE Focus. In the June 2013 edition of the FLATE Focus, Executive Director of FLATE, Dr. Marilyn Barger took an initial look at the terms of engagement for apprenticeship programs from a broader perspective. A year later, Dr. Barger discussed the role of apprenticeships in addressing the workforce skills gap. Indeed this is a relevant topic in terms of the workforce needs and technician education and training in Florida, and we are revisiting this topic this month as we assess current apprentice programs across the sunshine state.

The primary purpose of apprenticeships is to enable employers to develop and apply industry recognized standards to training programs. The intention is to increase productivity, improve the quality of the workforce, retain tribal knowledge and to reduce turnover. Apprentice programs are administered either by the Office of Apprenticeships (OA) or by the SAA which is the State Apprenticeship Agency. OA’s are state-led programs run and managed by the United States Department of Labor (US DOL). The SAA structure that is implemented in Florida, holds responsibility and accountability for apprenticeships at the state level and is recognized by the US DOL to register and oversee apprenticeship programs and agreements for federal purposes.

There are five essential components of registered apprenticeships. They include a strong business involvement; structured on-the-job training; related/corresponding instruction; rewards for skill gains, and a national occupational credential that guarantees apprentices are 100% qualified for the job. Trade associations, local workforce boards, single employers, educational institutions, community, or faith-based organizations are some of the entities that are approved to sponsor an apprentice.

The length of apprenticeships varies from one to five years depending on the occupation training requirements. Time-Based apprenticeships complete a required number of hours in “On-The-Job” training. Competency-based apprenticeships progress at their own pace whereby apprentices demonstrate competency in skills and knowledge through proficiency test and applied practice validated by a supervisor, mentor, or journey worker. Hybrid apprenticeships use the minimum and maximum range of hours and require a successful demonstration of identified measured competencies. There is also the Career Lattice model that uses an interim credential to validate progression through a registered apprenticeship program within competency, or hybrid based models ONLY.

Between January 1 and December 31, 2018, there are over 12,000 apprentices in Florida enrolled in 213 active programs. Of the 12,000 apprentices, approximately 1,400 completed their programs during this time span. In 2018 there were over 5,000 new apprentices with a total of 26 new registered apprenticeship programs and three new pre-apprenticeship programs registered in Florida. According to FLDOE the top two apprenticeship programs at the secondary level and at Florida colleges is the Electrician and the Air Conditioning, Refrigeration, and Heating Technology programs. Other popular programs include Plumbing Technology, Carpentry, Early Childhood Education Fire Fighter/Fire Sprinkler System Technology and Sheet Metal Fabrication Technology. For the full list of apprenticeships in Florida, visit www.FLDOE.org.

In terms of manufacturing apprenticeships, there are nearly 200 students enrolled in various apprenticeship programs across Florida, most of which are related to machining. Tampa Bay Machining in Clearwater, FL, offers the top number of different apprenticeship programs across the state and has a total of 18 students enrolled in their 10 programs. Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) has the highest number of apprentices (59) currently enrolled in any manufacturing-related program (59 in their Maintenance Mechanic Apprenticeship). Other organizations offering apprenticeships supporting manufacturing include AmSkills in New Port Richey, South Florida Manufacturers Association in Fort Lauderdale, Treasure Coast Manufacturers Association in Port St. Lucie, Miami Dade College in Miami, CareerSource Suncoast in East Bradenton, St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Baker-Hughes in Jacksonville, Arthrex Manufacturing in Ave Maria etc. See the full list of manufacturing apprenticeships programs across Florida and their enrollment.

Florida employers can participate in an existing program, or can work with Apprenticeship Training Representatives to develop a new program. Interested employers should contact their assigned regional representative within the Division of Career and Adult Education. A full listing of regional representatives by service region is listed in the adjacent graphic or contact Ted Norman, program director at FL DOE at richard.norman@fldoe.org, or at 850.245.9039. You can also visit https://www.fldoe.org/academics/career-adult-edu/apprenticeship-programs. For information on the Florida Engineering Technology Forum and its role in defining curriculum alignments for manufacturing apprenticeships across Florida contact Dr. Marilyn Barger, Executive Director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org, or at 813.259.6578.

FLATE Focus 

ATE Leadership Caucus Looks to the Future

In mid-December, the new “Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work” project hosted its advisory committee and Principal Investigators from ATE centers, coordination networks and projects in Alexandria, Virginia to explore anticipated impacts on the “future of work” on the advanced technicians graduating from our programs.  This event kick-started the four-year ATE special project focused identifying what skills and knowledge the technician workforce will need in the coming decades and how we can best deploy them. The project advisory committee met the day prior to the Caucus and those 10 industry representatives joined the ATE Caucus to share their industry perspectives.  The funded “Preparing Technicians” project is providing an important opportunity for the ATE community to come together and look toward the future of technician education and what we will want and need to change in our educational systems to best prepare students for the jobs of the future.

Several NSF program officers from programs focused on the NSF’s “Big Idea” focusing on the Future of Work at the Human Technology Interface. This program spans the breadth of the National Science Foundation’s programs including the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. And, it is one of ten “Big Ideas” (see the Big Ideas webpage) that the National Science Foundation is promoting to prompt scientists and engineering researchers to investigate interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary topics and applications of emerging technologies. The ATE Impacts Blog has a recent post from the Caucus event that highlights the presentations from these NSF program officers at the Caucus.

You can join the Preparing Technician’s community by signing up on its website, PreparingTechnians.org, and/or read the posted article from the December Caucus, which summarizes the amazing presentation by Mehran Gul, Lead for Digital Transformation Initiative at the World Economic Forum (Geneva, Switzerland). This presentation gives a thought-provoking historic and global perspective of work and anticipates the future. You can also find the project’s monthly podcasts as well as other resources.

The fast pace of technological change, the power of artificial intelligence, G5 communication platforms, flexible manufacturing and virtual / augmented reality will affect how many workers do their work every day. We must do our best to anticipate what industry will look like for working technicians. FLATE looks forward to sharing news from the Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work project as it explores the technology workforce and workplace of the near future. For more information about the Preparing Technicians projects, contact the project P.I., Ann-Clair Anderson (anderson@cord.org) or Marilyn Barger, Executive Director, FLATE (barger@fl-ate.org).

Plan Now for PD Opportunities for 2019

As we approach the holiday season and the beginning of a new year, it’s time to both look forward to where we want to go and who we want to be, and back to see where we have come. However, right now let’s focus on professional development (“PD”) and the future. What do we want to learn more about? What do we still want to learn? How can we better help our students?

What is Professional Development? One official definition is “the process of improving and increasing capabilities of staff through access to education and training opportunities in the workplace, through outside organization, or through watching others perform the job. Certainly, “PD” is one way that educators keep current with their academic and technical disciplines as well as teaching and learning strategies.

However, “PD” helps build and maintain morale and is thought to help attract higher quality people to an organization”. Additionally, “PD” can provide educators with innovative tools and helps them to develop skills to use these new tools effectively to affect a direct impact on student achievement. When educators feel empowered and confident in bringing something new to their instruction, they can reach students they may not have been able to with traditional teaching methods. Innovative technology and teaching tools in the classroom can allow for diverse and interesting lessons that will engage learners in new ways.

FLATE has always and continues to focus on helping Florida manufacturing and technical educators find and participate in a wide variety of professional development opportunities all year. This month FLATE is posting a variety of upcoming 2019 workshops, webinars, conferences and other events. (Check the attached flyer or go to the FLATE wiki and take a look behind the “Professional Development” button for the most current information.) We think you will find some events that you won’t want to miss. If you don’t see something that you want to learn or need to know about, please let us know and we will try to find some opportunities for you.

FLATE, in partnership with the Central Florida College will conduct a 4.5-day Industrial Robot workshop in June. Registration and educator travel and lodging support is covered by our partner FACTE through a Perkins grant. FLATE will also host a MSSC CPT/CPT+ workshop this spring (dates and location will be finalized early in January). For the post-secondary Engineering Technology crowd, the spring ET Forum will be hosted for the first time by our colleagues at Sarasota Technical College (STC) on March 28-29.

We encourage everyone to take advantage of some free local events that focus on new and emerging technologies. Two great candidates are the Synapse Innovation event in February in Tampa and the Florida HAAS Machining Educator Day hosted by Palm Beach State College Lake Worth Campus on May 2. Another good deal is the $25 Tech Tour pre-conference day hosted by FAITE and FLATE in conjunction with the Annual FACTE conference each July.

Florida educators can also sign up for free FACTE (Florida Association of Career and Technical Education) online courses. FACTE typically publishes a calendar of courses a month or two before each semester. If you are interested in strategies for integrating problem based learning or new technologies into your courses or want to know more about teaching students with disabilities or working with standards, FACTE courses can help.

Have a wonderful break from classes and we will be back with the first 2019 edition of the FLATE Focus!

MFG DAY and Month Happenings in Tampa Bay

The month of October saw over 30 student tours in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties, but many other events celebrating Manufacturing in Florida also took place.  Here are a few highlights!

October 4- Upper Tampa Bay-Florida SunCoast Manufacturing Association (UTBMA) Sixth Annual Advanced Manufacturing Awards Ceremony at Nielsen Global Technology, Oldsmar.

The UTBMA is dedicated to serving the unique business and networking needs of the approximately 400 manufacturers located in the region. The 2018 awards ceremony recognized regional manufacturers for their exemplary labor in manufacturing innovation and for the first time outstanding students and alumni were also recognized. During this event, FLATE’s dear friend Roy Sweatman from Southern Manufacturing Technologies received the distinguished 2018 Service Award. The 2018 Student Excellence award was presented to Michelle Puentes from Hillsborough Community College and Ryder Fizpatrick from St. Petersburg. Michelle and Ryder were recognized for their outstanding perseverance, leadership and academic achievement in pursuit of a career in advanced technology and manufacturing.

October 9- Manufacturing Alliance of Hillsborough County M-Pact Meeting hosted by Southern Manufacturing Technologies (SMT), Tampa.
The Manufacturing Alliance of Hillsborough County is working to build a better future for our region’s manufacturing industry. Through M-Pact meeting series, manufacturers connect to address the latest trends and challenges facing our industry. This M-Pact meeting, hosted by SMT, focused on improving the talent pipeline and provided an provided an overview of National and State apprenticeship opportunities for manufacturers by Richard (Ted) Norman, Florida Department of Education’s State Director of Apprenticeship, Division of Career and Adult Education in Hillsborough County. In addition, a local apprenticeship model was presented by Steve Cona III, President/CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors Florida Gulf Coast Chapter, and a SMT machinist apprentice Robert Falor spoke to manufacturers and educators about his apprenticeship program and life experience.

As the manufacturing sector’s most passionate advocates, Manufacturing Alliance of Hillsborough County are committed to changing the perception of modern manufacturing in Tampa Bay, simplifying the path to a successful manufacturing career, fostering critical connections across the manufacturing community, and guiding individuals and our community towards enduring prosperity. For more information about Hillsborough Alliance, visit https://madeinhillsborough.org/

ITS TIME TO CELEBRATE: MANUFACTURING DAY/MONTH IS HERE!

October is right around the corner and it’s time to celebrate! You can find Florida “Manufacts” on the FloridaMakes website to add to your own local manufacturing info facts.

Here are some of the statewide facts you can find under FLORIDA MANUFACTS.

•  In April 2018, manufacturing had 375,500 jobs in Florida, an increase of 12,300 jobs over the year.
• Manufacturing has gained jobs for 88 consecutive months, after losing jobs over the year for more than four years.
• Manufacturing is 4.3% of total nonagricultural employment in Florida
• Miami-Dade, Pinellas and Orange counties contributed over 30,000 manufacturing jobs each, while Broward, Hillsborough, Duval, and Brevard counties contributed over 20,000 jobs each,
• The Average wage for Manufacturing in Florida is $57,884.00, which is the third largest in the state for all industry sectors and is $10,829.00 above the average wage in the state.   (Data source: Florida Department of Economic Opportunity)

In addition to statewide data, you can find downloadable in-depth regional reports on that same MANUFACTS webpage. For example, the report for West Central Gulf Coast is 28 pages, was compiled by IHS and looks like the image to the left. In addition to West Central Gulf Coast, reports available for you to find include regional reports for Central Florida, the First Coast, Gainesville Area, Mid-Florida, Northwest Florida and Capital Region, South Florida, Southwest Region, and Volusia County. Check out the report for your region to gather local details to support your Manufacturing Day events.

More Florida Manufacturing facts can be found on FLATE’s website with the Engineering Technology Degree pages. Each year, FLATE partners with the Florida Department of Education to obtain completion and enrollment data for the A.S. Engineering Technology degree, its college credit certificates and all other related degree programs. For FLATE, related programs are those academic programs that also support manufacturing. The annual report is a 5-year summary with break out data by college and program. In addition to state and community college data, FLATE also reports on related high school and post-secondary programs. These programs provide articulated pathways into college programs and dual enrollment with the A.S.E.T. The Florida Advanced Manufacturing high school program has shown significant growth in the past several years. Here are a few FACTS captured from this report. We do not expect the 2018 data from the Department of Education until later this fall, so the most current report covers the 5-year period, 2012-2017. Below are a couple snapshots of ET enrollment and completed data.

A summary of MFG DAY-FL student tour data for the past 5 years is posted on the MFGDAY-fl.com site (scroll down to bottom). Links to student, hosts and chaperone surveys, lesson plans, graphics, tour tips for the industry hosts are all available from this page. To date, we have 49 events posted on MFGDAY.com for Florida. I know that there are many more, so please get your events posted as soon as possible.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Florida Manufacturers Starts with MFG Day Student Tours

Since 2012, MFG DAY/Month has grown across the nation. A central focus of the celebration is to introduce Advanced Modern Manufacturing to young people in order to attract them to careers in the industry.  If Florida, FLATE and its many partners that include regional professional and business associations, Workforce and Economic development organizations, educational institutions of all levels have organized student tours and other events to celebrate the industry and introduce the community, especially students, to manufacturing and its many great careers. It’s time to plan for MFG DAY/month in FL 2018.

I encourage ALL manufacturers to host student tours.  100% of the feedback we have gotten over the past 5 years from company hosts is incredibly positive: that the tours were a good investment of time and energy; their own workforce was jazzed by experience of having student visitors, and a few had direct hires. The vast majority said it was also great for company morale. Overall, its been all great!  Here is what you need to get started:

1. In most areas of the state, there are regional coordinators, you can find a pretty up to date list of these folks here:
2. Coordinators do their best to help identify a middle or high school for you.
3. PLAN!
   •  Most tours happen on MFG DAY, Oct 5.  If that day doesn’t work for you or your school, no worries, you tour can be any day in October (Mfg Month!) [We all get more publicity if a bunch of tours happen on the same day, so many areas try to have most of the tours on the official date.}

•  Most tours happen in the middle of the day (10-1:30) to take advantage of school buses for transportation. Many coordinators work directly with the school district, which schedules the buses and covers the cost of the buses.
•  Provide lunch (pizza/drinks), inside or outside if at all possible. This is a great time for employees to connect with students AND for students to complete a short tour survey that FLATE will provide (and will tally as well). Allow 30 min.
• Review FLATE’s “Tour Tips” to maximize your impact.
• Plan the tour, engage your employees. You don’t have to show it all.
•  Post your tour on mfgday.com – and let everyone know about your event.
•  Report your tour info to FLATE (mbarger@hccfl.edu).
•  Invite the press, local officials, etc to share the opportunity.

FLATE provides a number of resources for Manufacturing Day in Florida. In an effort to make a statewide impact, we have developed and posted teacher lesson plans (to help prepare students for tours), outreach materials like special MFG DAY – FL logos; classroom poster, graphic for MFGDAY-FL 2018 t-shirts, web buttons & banners, how to booklets and handouts, recorded webinars about these resources, and more.  All resources can be found on FLATE’s wiki: www.flate.pbwiki.com – look for the tour and MFGDAY button to access these free resources. FLATE also has posted the Florida student tour surveys as an online survey or downloadable pdf files.  There are also links to surveys for company hosts and educators /parents accompanying students.

We want to keep Florida on the national manufacturing map as an active and enthusiastic participants. Its time to get start planning your student tour and other activities or events.

If you are new to MFGDAY in Florida (or even if you are not new), don’t hesitate to contact us at FLATE with any questions.

Mechatronics and Vacuum Technology

The terms Mechatronics and Vacuum Technology represent 20^th Century state-of-the-art “tags” for leading edge STEM based skill sets that are even more significant in this 21^st century digital world.  Mechatronics was coined in the 1960’s to verbalize the then brand new integration of mechanical and electronic knowledge for commercial (automobiles, etc), space (moon mission) and defense (ICB’s) applications.  Vacuum Technology could trace its heritage to the 19^th Century (Edison’s work with incandescent filaments for example) but certainly is anchored in technology development (radio and television) in the 1920’s and cemented in all advanced technologies triggered during and post Manhattan Project.  Although there is always a tendency to rebrand almost everything (IHOP to IHOB for the latest example), new identifiers for either of these incredibly STEM based skill sets is not necessary.  What is important is to recognize that from a technician’s perspective both are indicative of the required and similar advanced knowledge and skills for today’s advanced manufacturing sector technicians.

FLATE’s mission to build Florida’s advanced manufacturing workforce is driven by the fact that Florida’s high tech industries (defense, aero-space, biomedical devices and communications sectors) are dependent on both Mechatronics and Vacuum Technology and the reality is that the skillset of these two discipline areas have a significant overlap. FLATE continues to work with A.S. programs around the country that support mechatronics certifications alignment to year degree programs. Additionally, FLATE annually provides a range of professional development opportunities at the HI-TEC conference (this year in Miami Florida in July). Mechatronics events include: workshop on Programmable Logic Controllers; Mechatronics group “mixer”; and an industry panel on Industry 4.0.

FLATE is now beginning an initiative to build a community of practice that supports vacuum technology and its overlapping Mechatronics skills. The National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education program (NSF-ATE) is supporting FLATE activities focused on technician education that lead to careers in advanced manufacturing that depend on vacuum technology and science skills and knowledge. FLATE has entered into a partnership with the American Vacuum Society (AVS) to identify the essential skills that are and will be essential to support this industry sector.   (The AVS is the internationally recognized premiere organization of academic, industry, Department of Defense, National Laboratory, and NASA STEM professionals that require or use controlled pressure environments to accomplish their missions.) This objective will be reached through a joint effort by the AVS Education Committee, Normandale Community College in Bloomington, MN, and FLATE. The work has already begun at workshop supported by AVS at the Colorado School of Mines that took place in early June. Stay tuned for the next steps in this project in the fall of 2018. For more information, contact gilbert@fl-ate.org.

So what’s next? As with the action item generated in last month’s FOCUS workforce related message, “On-Time and Drug Free”, We need input from manufacturers and their technology supporters that rely on vacuum technology and science to share insight and experience. From your perspective, what are required skills that support manufacturing operations conducted in controlled pressure environments? What skills and tasks do your engineers and scientists have and do that should be within the technician’s domain? What vacuum related skills are now not key to your vacuum supported processes?

In summary, to paraphrase and repeat the bottom line message from “On-Time and Drug Free”, drilling down into the skill set expectations of manufacturing workers in high performance complex vacuum required processes will increase process efficiency and product quality. This exploration requires extra energy from all parties but the increased details will refine the processes Florida uses to produce the fundamental non-competitive technical expertise necessary in this manufacturing sector. Florida has a great future in global manufacturing when the needed skills development is transferred to the education system. FLATE can help with that transfer into the education system but manufacturers have to identify the critical skills. If you can help, let us know.

The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida 2030 Project and Earners to Learners Summit Explores the Future Opportunities and Needs for Florida’s Workforce

The recommendations released come from three years’ worth of research and feedback from more than 10,000 Floridians in each of Florida’s 67 counties as part of the Florida 2030 initiative- a multi-million research initiative that seeks to identify the challenges and opportunities Florida has between now and 2030, and to create a blueprint for Florida’s future. Recommendations found that:

• Florida is growing- our state needs to add 1.7 million net new jobs by 2030.
• Florida must prepare its workforce to take advantage of global consumer demand.
• Florida is experiencing generational changes.
• Florida will need to adapt to shifting skills and the training that will be required.
• Innovation and disruption are transforming industries and jobs.
• The nature of work in Florida is changing.

FLATE, FloridaMakes, the Able Trust, Economic Development organizations and Educational institutions gathered to hear the specific recommendations for Talent and Education Pilar of Project 2030 at the recent Earners to Learners Summit held in Tampa. In addition to the project recommendations, Commissioner Pam Stewart presented the Commissioners Business Recognitions Awards during the event. These awards to a number of exemplary programs and businesses around the state. The award winners are posted here: https://www.flchamber.com/commissioner-pam-stewart-honors-businesses-at-2018-learners-to-earners-workforce-summit/ . You can also view the recorded videos of Summit speakers and see the agenda here: https://www.flchamber.com/2018-learners-to-earners-workforce-summit-videos/

For more information about Project 2030, click on the images below for the recommendations listed above. You can also download and share the Drivers for Florida’s Future report, which covers all Six Pillars of Florida’s growth (Talent Supply & Education, Innovation & Economic Development, Infrastructure & Growth Leadership, Business Climate & Competitiveness, Civic & Governance Systems, Quality of Life & Quality Places.)

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