Through IACMI’s successful workforce development track record in its first five years, it has built a reputation as a leader in training experiences in the advanced composites industry. As IACMI looks toward its future in the advanced manufacturing space, its workforce development initiatives have grown in scope and diversity, leading the institute to create a workforce development program, Elevate by IACMI.
Elevate will serve as an initiative to bring together the diverse stakeholders and partners in the advanced manufacturing workforce development field. Led by Joannie Harmon, IACMI’s workforce development director, Elevate will implement programs and grow workforce development training opportunities in alignment with IACMI’s mission and vision.
“Our partners and areas of opportunity for increased training became increasingly diverse as we hosted internships and training workshops through our first five years as IACMI,” said Joannie. “We look forward to our new opportunities and areas where we can continue to provide meaningful workforce training experiences.”
There are several workforce development initiatives currently getting started through Elevate by IACMI. IACMI was awarded the $3M Office of Naval Research’s Manufacturing Education Extension Program (MEEP) grant in 2019 and has created the Advanced Composites Careers Pathway (ACCP) program through that initiative. Additionally, IACMI is participating on fellow Manufacturing USA institute, NextFlex’s, FlexFactor STEM workforce initiative. Finally, IACMI was most recently awarded a $2.6M grant from the Department of Defense’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program to create an asynchronous machine tooling training program that augments current CAM software available in the machine tooling industry.
Elevate by IACMI was launched on Oct. 7 during the Fall 2020 Virtual Members Meeting. An Elevate website was launched that same day. It can be accessed at iacmi.org by selecting the navigation tab, Workforce.