SME Outlines initiatives after 2013 State of Union address.
Press Release Summary:
Doing more than discussing need for skilled manufacturing employees, Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) is acting on several initiatives: reducing skilled labor shortage, educating tomorrow's workforce via programs at educational facilities, and on-site training for workers to acquire new skills. Also, SME's Educational Foundation (SME-EF) provides guidance and funding to high schools considered exemplary for manufacturing education they offer.
Original Press Release:
2013 State of Manufacturing in the U.S.
In light of Pres. Obama's, "State of the Union" address regarding America's manufacturing base and job training, there continues to be discussion around the need for skilled manufacturing employees. The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) is actually doing something about it.
SME's many initiatives include:
Reducing skilled labor shortage
Educating tomorrow's workforce via numerous programs at educational facilities
On-site training for workers to acquire new skills
SME's Educational Foundation (SME-EF) Provides guidance and funding to high schools considered exemplary for the manufacturing education they offer.
http://www.smeef.org/ The Partnership Response In Manufacturing Education (PRIME) has recognized the following schools:
Calera High School, Calera, AL
Hawthorne High School – Los Angeles, CA
Esperanza High School, Anaheim, CA
Petaluma High School, Petaluma, CA
Wheeling High School - Chicago, IL
McKenzie Center for Innovation and Technology, Indianapolis, IN
Some of SME's other initiatives include:
•Â SME helped to develop the competency model for the Labor Dept. and high schools, community colleges and universities.
•Â SME works with the following governmental agencies to help elevate their understanding of today's and the future of manufacturing and jobs training for  Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, Environmental Protection & Labor. SME also assists Veteran's groups with training for careers in manufacturing.Â
• SME recently produced a white paper, "Workforce Imperative: A Manufacturing Education Strategy."Â Which outlines how America moves forward to educate our workforce of the future and keep manufacturing a strong component for our economy.
• Tooling U – SME Professional Development
• Tooling U- SME training solutions address manufacturers’ pressing workforce challenges with industry-driven content that aligns to manufacturing job roles
• Tooling U-SME provides integrated, results-oriented training programs to industry, education and government institutions that strategically align to organizational goals:
•Â More than 50% of Fortune 500 manufacturing companies are Tooling U-SME customers
• Over 500 community colleges, high schools and middle schools are Tooling U-SME customers
