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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. Over...

During recent years, FLATE has partnered with the Able Trust High School High Tech (HSHT). This program is designed to provide high school students with all types of disabilities the opportunity to explore jobs or postsecondary education leading to technology- related careers. HSHT links youth to a broad range of academic, career development and experiential resources and experiences that will enable them to meet the demands of the 21st century workforce. HSHT is a community-based partnership made up of students, parents and caregivers, businesses, educators and rehabilitation professionals. It has been shown to reduce the high school dropout rate and increase the overall self-esteem of participating students.   This summer, FLATE hosted two Hillsborough County HSHT students as interns working with our summer camp instructors as camp teaching aids. They were a great help for the camp instructors helping to set up the camp room and robots, working with the camper student teams, and ...

As was reported in our last FLATE Focus edition, the 2018 FLATE Awards represent FLATE’s efforts to recognize leaders who have been at the forefront of manufacturing workforce education and training. This is the eleventh year of our FLATE Awards program, and is one of FLATE’s many efforts to showcase and recognize the contributions of educators and industries in advancing technician education and training on a regional and statewide level. In this edition FLATE would like to share with you a little more about the 2018 FLATE Award recipients and celebrate their well-deserved awards: Distinguished Manufacturing Secondary Educator-of-the-Year Award: Ted Madison Missildine, Freeport High School, Freeport, FL.  Mr. Ted Missildine is an MSSC certified instructor at Freeport High School in the manufacturing and pre-engineering academy. He holds a Master’s degree in secondary education and worked in private industry before entering the education field in 1994. He is the Key Club sponsor a...

The Florida Association of Career and Technical Education (FACTE) and Florida Association of Industrial Technical Education (FAITE) partnered up with FLATE to provide a pre-conference workshop and a full multi session day at the FACTE summer conference and trade show in July 16-18, 2018. This year’s conference hosted approximately 800 participants representing all areas of career and technical education. The Conference provides three days of intensive and informative general sessions, workshops, focus sessions, open forums and business meetings.  The Trade Show presents an opportunity for all attendees to see first-hand and hands-on the latest materials, information, equipment, and services that will help fulfill and enhance their professional responsibilities. FLATE-FAITE Preconference-Technical Tours FLATE and FAITE co-hosted their annual “Tech Tours” day. The preconference industrial and technical tours were held on July 16 and included tours to MidState Machine & Fabri...

The impact of Future of Work issues on technician work and therefore, technician education is a current hot topic. We immediately think of the manufactures who are adjusting to new technologies affecting their manufacturing processes and practices. A first step to understanding what the impact of new technologies is to project what the nature of work will be for manufacturing technicians. A current workforce concern, like the wave of baby boomers leaving the workforce, is not a Future of Work issue. In addition, the collection of skills and behaviors that we tag as employability or professional skills today will evolve to something different as the nature of work changes in the new future.   Baby boomers leaving the workforce have been a recognized challenge for modern manufacturing.  Industry has long understood two subtle effects of the G.I. returning home from Europe and the Far East in 1945.  First, these WWII veterans and then their subsequent children (the baby boom...

Every summer a number of schools and organizations partner with FLATE to offer fun and motivating camps to middle and high school students across Florida.  Camps were held at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa; Lake Sumter State College (LSSC), Sumter Center in Sumterville; North Florida Community College (NFCC), IHMC in Pensacola and Ocala facilities; and Frank H. Peterson Academies of Technology in Jacksonville. Robotic Summer Camps were modeled after FLATE’s summer camps, used FLATE curriculum, and served as a mechanism to reach out to a broader range of students across the state. The camps also proved to be a sustainable and effective mechanism to get middle and high school aged students from all socio-economic backgrounds interested in STEM and robotics education and related career pathways. FLATE hosts several Robotics and Engineering Technology Camps at Hillsborough Community College’s (HCC) Brandon campus in Tampa for middle and high school students. This year FLATE of...

In 2017-2018 the state of Florida offered Community Job Growth grants to Florida educational institutions to support local and regional communities.   Many of the award proposal submissions were to communities for infrastructures projects, however a number of state and community colleges and technical colleges received funding for training and educational programs. The good news is that many of these educational awards will support advanced manufacturing programs across the state!   Congratulations to all of those colleges awarded funds for advanced manufacturing program development and training.   See the table below for a list of colleges awarded funding for advanced manufacturing, the programs they were funded to support and the total award amount. We look forward to reporting on their programs and projects in the coming year. Don’t miss out!   The solicitation for 2018-2919 is published and proposals are already being posted online: http://www.floridajobs.org/job...

2019 STEP Ahead Award nominations opened August 1 and close October 5. Consider nominating a female  peer or colleague for this prestigious award by the Manufacturing Institute. Recipients of the award receive not only national recognition but also an invitation to attend a two-day leadership program in Washington, DC that focuses on enhancing both the skills they need to continue succeeding, as well as the tools to mentor the next generation of women in manufacturing. To date, 802 women who are making a difference in their companies and communities have been recognized since 2012. Vi sit  http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/women  to learn more about the Institute’s STEP Ahead Awards and to find more information on nominations for the 2019 awards.