How to Attract the Next Generation of Quality Engineers
The Be Pro Be Proud campaign in Arkansas and the Center for Manufacturing Innovation in South Carolina are two of the many initiatives across the U.S. aimed at replenishing the manufacturing workforce.
In June, three student teams from the Chicago Tech Academy (ChiTech) presented their innovations in front of an audience of manufacturing industry professionals at the 2016 SAP Manufacturing Industries Forum. The nonprofit, four-year high school in Chicago was founded in 2012 with the mission of inspiring, educating and, connecting young people—especially minority and low-income students interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pursuits—to re-imagine the future of manufacturing.
The winning ChiTech presentation focused on “saving lives in the digital enterprise.” The team was surprised to learn that even in our hyper-connected digital age, critical patient information cannot be easily transmitted from an ambulance to a hospital. They learned that most ambulance phones can only make outgoing calls and have just one button, as opposed to a keypad that could speedily relay information like the patient’s height, weight, allergies, and vital signs to the hospital on the ride over. Thus the team proposed inserting wires under ambulance gurneys with Apple iPads attached to quick-scan the patient’s face and body, then transmit the patient’s information to the nearest hospital, as well as the second-nearest hospital and the hospital holding the patient’s medical records, if applicable, in less than 60 seconds.