WORKFORCE PIPELINE A MONTHLY FEATURE ABOUT TRAINING, EDUCATION & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
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Bridging the Advanced Manufacturing Skills Gap with Talented Military Veterans
L
oyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfl ess Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. These are some of the many values that our nations’ heroes live by every day. Most will agree that these instilled values embody what makes veterans great assets in the workforce. Veterans show up on time, are disciplined, and are great problem solvers. There is a problem though. These skilled veterans are having diffi culties making the transition to what they call the “civilian world”. Every month thousands of soldiers embark on this new journey. With the war drawing down, it is expected there will be more than a million soldiers who will make their transition. These veterans will be met with those same diffi culties. With the great attributes that these men
specifi c needs in “bootcamp” and project-based learning style programs. Where are these programs needed, though? Well, there is an industry with the perfect opportunity.
Advanced Manufacturing Opportunity Most discussions regarding the advanced manufactur- ing workforce normally come to the same conclusion. It is the notorious skills gap that is holding back innovation and growth. This is not only a big issue on the surface, but one that becomes magnifi ed considering the projections of 3 million more unfi lled positions being added in the next couple of years if a solution isn’t developed. Unfortunately, In the 21st
century, advanced
CEO of 3D Veterans Michael Moncada (left) presenting Sean Garcia (right) with his certifi cate for completing the 3D Veterans Additive Manufacturing Bootcamp.
and women bring to the table, why are they struggling to fi nd meaningful employment? It turns out that many employers do not understand how to translate the skill sets that are learned in the military into what their organizations do. How would you translate the skill “Located and neutralized IEDs, mines and other explosive devices” to a manufacturing position? The answer is you don’t. This is why 3D Veterans was created–to train veterans and transitioning service members on employer-
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AdvancedManufacturing.org | February 2017
manufacturing is seen by many as an unexciting fi eld with low impact and offering not-so rewarding careers. This is due to a lack of awareness of the exciting technologies and innovations being used and developed by the industry. The challenge lies in solving these three problems: veterans having diffi culty transi- tioning to the civilian workforce; advanced manufacturing jobs going unfi lled due to a skills gap, and the lack of awareness of the technologies and innovations that power advanced manu- facturing. 3D Veterans has come up with an effi cient yet mean- ingful way to solve these problems: train veterans on the skills needed, and create a project-based component that solves issues in the community, which in turn creates awareness of the technology. Even more specifi c than that, we receive employer commitments, train directly to that employers’ workforce needs and directly place veterans after training. The fi rst cohort was a public/private-developed Additive Manufacturing Bootcamp.
The Beginning: Additive Manufacturing Bootcamp There are many emerging technologies that make up advanced manufacturing. None, however, is as exciting and empowering as additive manufacturing. The Additive Manu- facturing Bootcamp was created to empower our veterans by teaching them the skills to think, create, and solve in three dimensions. Through a
Google.org grant that was managed by
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