Recently on Forbes.com, contributing writer and president of Harvey Mudd College, Maria Klawe, described the need for incorporating more manufacturing into engineering education.
She cited a recent white paper “Workforce Imperative: A Manufacturing Education Strategy”from the Society for Manufacturing Engineers (SME),that called on higher education to improve its manufacturing courses and programs. The report states, “There are relatively small numbers of manufacturing students and graduates, outdated manufacturing curricula, resource shortages and a lack of emphasis on hiring, preparing and supporting manufacturing educators.” SME recommends attracting more students to manufacturing by showing them that the field can be creative and high-tech; improving the quality and consistency of manufacturing curricula; integrating manufacturing topics into STEM courses and developing more manufacturing faculty.
According to the SME, there is a serious skills gap in the U.S. manufacturing workforce, and the gap ranges from technician to engineer to manager. The SME estimates that 600,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. went unfilled at the height of the recent recession, from 2009-2012, due to a lack of skilled professionals. Clearly, the lack of a skilled work force is hurting the U.S. manufacturing sector.
Klawe asserts that there are compelling reasons why America’s educational institutions need to invest in their manufacturing curricula. Manufacturing knowledge makes students better engineers, no matter what field of engineering they pursue. Engineers can’t design in isolation; they need to take into account that they are working on products for mass volume production and Six Sigma level quality. In addition, an understanding of manufacturing process can help fast track students into leadership positions.
Klawe asserts that there are compelling reasons why America’s educational institutions need to invest in their manufacturing curricula. Manufacturing knowledge makes students better engineers, no matter what field of engineering they pursue. Engineers can’t design in isolation; they need to take into account that they are working on products for mass volume production and Six Sigma level quality. In addition, an understanding of manufacturing process can help fast track students into leadership positions.
