Ivy Tech Community College

As Indiana employers work to address this skills gap, they may come to realize that additional workforce investment – in the form of upskilling and reskilling – is needed to keep pace with the rapid evolution and adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies. To close this skills gap within Indiana’s manufacturing sector, Conexus Indiana is helping forge a powerful partnership between industry and Ivy Tech Community College, the state’s community college system and workforce engine, for the development of innovative training programs designed to address this challenge.

A recent survey of employers who partner with Ivy Tech revealed that 80% see a need to modernize, reskill or upskill their existing workforce, and a 2022 Conexus report found that half of all Indiana advanced manufacturing firms plan to adopt new technologies by 2027, but their plans are being hindered by an inability to find local talent to support the transition. Furthermore, according to a report by TEConomy Partners and Conexus Indiana that analyzed the inclusion of Industry 4.0 skills in job postings for roles in Indiana manufacturing, many of the firms haven’t invested proportionally in the digital skills of their workforce.

But investing in innovative training programs isn’t as straightforward a proposition as it might sound. Legacy models of training – hiring in-house trainers that train large groups, purchasing training programs from equipment manufacturers or vendors, sending workers to local post-secondary schools for training for degree programs, and so on – are more challenging to coordinate in workplaces with smaller teams working with highly specialized equipment. This can be especially challenging in areas such as equipment maintenance or PLC programming, where the knowledge for keeping a machine operating might fall to a single employee or to an outside vendor, putting operations at risk if that employee is unavailable or the vendor can’t respond quickly.

With all of this in mind, employers have recognized that they must be proactive about upskilling and reskilling and are open to embracing innovative training and education programs in much the same way they’ve embraced new technologies.

To ensure the program would truly serve industry needs and have marketplace traction, Ivy Tech and Conexus gathered industry representatives to inform curriculum and spread the word. With the initial launch, Conexus engaged 15 SME manufacturers in key regions of the state (Terre Haute, Lafayette, South Bend/Elkhart and greater Wabash) and collaborated with Ivy Tech to lead site visits and info-gathering sessions.

This engagement and communication process continues, allowing for ongoing industry input and program tailoring based on marketplace and regional needs, employer requirements and more. While Ivy Tech plans to build each class on a proven curriculum developed by the Smart Manufacturing and Digital Integration program chairs of its campuses across Indiana, it can adapt its program to address specific or broad technology needs, employer requirements and worker skills, and it will be as flexible as possible with class sizes, timing, location and more.

As an initial offering, Ivy Tech has developed a multi-level PLC training model where Conexus and Ivy Tech are inviting employers not only to contribute to the conversation about what will be taught, but also to make the classes more cost-effective by combining their workforces in classes rather than having company-specific sessions.

These blended classes allow for more efficient instruction and enable employees to learn basic skills that can then be adapted across a spectrum of equipment, as opposed to acquiring equipment-specific skills that limit their usefulness to the employer and their long-term employment options. This also helps employers by supplying them with workers who can problem solve rather than simply perform the steps they’ve learned for specific equipment, said Molly Joseph, Dean of the School of Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering and Applied Science with Ivy Tech’s Terre Haute campus.

To facilitate the collaboration process, each Ivy Tech campus has an employee consultant who works directly with employers to assess their needs through their regional campus’ Ivy+ Career Link office. As new programs are envisioned, employers are brought together in workshops to talk through the program model and provide feedback. This gives employers the opportunity to comment on everything from curriculum content to class timing to locations.

“The Ivy Tech team can talk with them and determine if they need a one-day course, a two-week session, a boot camp or whatever might suit their specific needs,” said Mitch Landess, Conexus’ VP of innovation and digital transformation. 

And the added benefit to this approach? By providing workers with broad knowledge rather than job- or machine-specific skills, employers inspire greater loyalty from their workers.

Leighton Johnson, Ivy Tech’s Assistant Vice President for Employer Connections, summed up the new training paradigm this way: “Employers are no longer just ‘consumers of talent,’ we are calling them ‘co-developers of talent’ with Ivy Tech.”

Campuses have hosted several employer workshops and information sessions, with a recent session in Hancock County, convened by Ivy Tech Anderson, drawing nearly 20 company representatives from six firms.  

Ivy Tech campuses such as Indianapolis, Kokomo, South Bend – Elkhart, Marion, and Valparaiso have trained nearly 40 employees from more than 20 sponsoring industrial firms, including Amazon, Feral Alloy, Heartland Food Products, HGC Industries, Lozier, Triangle Rubber Company, Mid-State Engineering and Merrell Bros.

Similar programs are being planned and designed for other Ivy Tech campuses, as conversations take place with employers across the state.

In addition, Ivy Tech is shaping its own ongoing curriculum to reflect the needs of the industry, adding classes such as CNC Automation & Programming, Supervisory Leadership for Industrial Firms, Programmable Logic Controls Applied Applications, and Industry Applied Artificial Intelligence. Many workers can benefit from Achieve Your Degree, Ivy Tech’s employer-sponsored tuition assistance program. Enrollment figures suggest the increased focus on manufacturing technology has been a hit, with 14% more students signing up for classes this spring in Ivy Tech’s School of Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering and Applied Science. 

Conexus also is partnering with Ivy Tech to assemble an advisory group to contribute to its development of an Applied Artificial Intelligence competency model. They are seeking subject-matter experts who design, develop, test or use AI tools as part of their daily work activities. This team will help Ivy Tech ensure that its instruction is industry-relevant and effectively prepares students for the evolving workforce.