enables students to graduate with practical skills and direct pathways into well-paying manufacturing careers. Expanding these models at a national scale can help the industry meet its future needs and support broader economic prosperity. Over the past five years, collaboration among manufacturers, high schools and trade schools has improved significantly. There are more industry-led youth apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities. Many state programs expanded highschool-based apprenticeships and CTE alignment, creating clearer career pathways. Virginia’s New Horizons Regional Education Centers stands as a model for a premier regional education organization, partnering with the community and educational system to offer specialized programming that creates empowered individuals and a worldclass workforce. Employers are also pooling their resources to fund training hubs and share curriculum, helping small manufacturers obtain access to apprenticeships. Community colleges and CTE programs are building specialized tracks (semiconductors, advanced machines, robotics) with employer input to align with manufacturing needs, and employers are sponsoring equipment and teacher externships. We see strong partnerships around defense and shipbuilding. Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding builds nuclear-powered U.S. Navy carriers, including the Ford-class USS Enterprise (CVN 80), the first carrier built entirely on digital platforms. Shipbuilders now use handheld tablets with 3D renderings, indicating a shift toward digital and paperless processes. They prepare their workforce via training and an in-house Apprentice School. The Council on Occupational Education accredits this school, which operates as an apprenticeship-vocational school embedded in the shipyard. Students are both apprentices (employees) and students. They offer tuition-free apprenticeships in trades, combined with academic coursework. Because it’s inside a working shipyard environment, apprentices gain hands-on experience in real craft and trade work. There are about 19 shipbuilding trades offered and eight optional advanced programs, offering a direct route into skilled trades and shipbuilding work, which, for many, is a career that combines craftsmanship, technology and leadership potential. Students graduate with an associate of applied science degree in their assigned trade. Apprentices who excel in the world-class shipbuilder curriculum, 135 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 13, ISSUE 01 ASSOCIATION FOR MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE (AME)
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