Researchers Offer Solution to Manufacturing Education Crisis
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2005 -- Educational researchers and an automotive industry veteran presented a solution today to the crisis in attracting and training manufacturing workers for the 21st Century.
"Agile Learning for Agile Manufacturing: An e-Learning Model," was delivered at the Society for Advanced Learning Technology (SALT) conference in Washington by Dr. Miriam Masullo of InViVoVision and Dan Criscenti of Campbell & Co.
The solution combines the time-honored tradition of apprenticeships with distance learning and data mining technologies, along with interactive collaboration tools to provide a platform for rapid and agile learning.
"Our agile learning solution focuses on the need to establish a new online training methodology to help the American manufacturing industry to recruit, train and build the manufacturing workforce of the future," said Masullo, the CEO of InViVoVision. "Modern manufacturing has created great demand for highly skilled employees, yet eighty percent of manufacturers feel that they face a moderate to serious shortage of advanced manufacturing worker applicants."
InViVoVision and Campbell & Co. are working jointly to research and address the training needs of America's largest manufacturing sector, the automotive industry.
"U.S. automotive manufacturers and suppliers face a number of personnel challenges, including a rapidly aging workforce, low interest among young people to work in manufacturing, and a lack of knowledge and skills needed to operate modern factory floor equipment," Criscenti said. "Our solution will help to improve automotive workforce capabilities and our national manufacturing competitiveness."
Criscenti is vice president of interactive media at Campbell & Co. in Dearborn, Mich. Previously, he was an executive with Ford Motor Company, where he developed an information and educational portal for company employees. Campbell & Co. provides marketing and training services to automotive and other industry clients.
Masullo is president and CEO of InViVoVision. Previously, she was a Research Staff Member at IBM's T J Watson Research Lab. Masullo served on several task force teams for the National Research Council and has received numerous awards for her work, including a medal for contributions to society.
The presentation, "Agile Learning for Agile Manufacturing: An e-Learning Model," can be found at http://www.invivovision.com/ and http://www.campbellco.com/agile .