“Our nation’s industrial workforce, in terms of size, capabilities, and talent is in dire need of a collaborative and national strategy to fill its pipeline and solve the growing skills gap,” said Jeannine Kunz, SME’s Chief Workforce Development Officer. “SME is leveraging its strengths and approach of ‘thinking nationally and acting locally’ to aggressively increase the supply of talent to meet industry demands. By joining forces with BlueForge Alliance and its talent efforts across the country, we can collectively grow, optimize, and scale workforce initiatives, driving impact on a national and regional level.”

The new collaboration between BFA and SME will:

•    Provide defense industrial base employers with training, certification, and support to upskill their current workforce.  

•    Increase awareness of industry career pathways and exponentially grow the supply of ready-to-hire talent for manufacturing jobs through the SME Manufacturing Imperative - Workforce Pipeline Challenge (MI-WPC).

•    Inspire and prepare the next generation of manufacturing talent through the SME Education Foundation’s SME PRIME® (Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education) program.

“The partnership with BlueForge Alliance is an excellent example of aligning missions, resources, intent and action,” said Kunz. “For example, the recent launch of SME’s Manufacturing Imperative – Workforce Pipeline Challenge started with SME and 25 community and technical colleges and technical schools across 17 states coming together to solve their communities and the nation’s talent challenges with a goal to attract 75,000 or more qualified workers in pursuit of manufacturing careers over the next 3 years. Now with support from BlueForge Alliance, we can strengthen, grow, and accelerate this collaborative program.”

The MI-WPC has already gained national attention from the White House, the Department of Education, State Manufacturing Associations, and the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC) for its innovative and collaborative approach to optimize education and industry partnerships and accelerate the education and skill development needed to place individuals in family-sustaining industrial base jobs. Realizing the urgency and need for collaboration, these schools have leaned-in to share best practices and ideate on new pathways, policies, and processes to prepare learners for open positions, while gaining the engagement and support of their local industry partners. Findings will help other programs replicate and scale innovative solutions to grow local economies, reduce barriers to employment, and fill vacant manufacturing jobs.

“I am inspired by the passion, resolve, and investment by these colleges in stepping up, and with BlueForge Alliance also joining and supporting the MI-WPC, we are poised to do more, faster and better together for local and national impact,” said Kunz. “This type of collaboration is required if we are going to win the war on talent.”    

With missions equally aligned to implementing not just immediate, but also long-term solutions to sustaining the workforce of the industrial base, SME and BlueForge have also recognized a need to advance career and technical education in high schools across the nation. The collaboration will provide funding to support new SME PRIME schools in key defense industrial base locations. SME PRIME partners private industry with academia to build comprehensive and custom manufacturing and engineering programs in high schools across the country — providing equipment, curriculum, teacher training and student scholarships along with funding for manufacturing-related extracurricular activities and program sustainability.

The new SME PRIME locations will increase awareness, aptitude and skills in technologies such as additive manufacturing, welding, robotics, metrology, and CNC machining that support advanced manufacturing and submarine shipbuilding.  

“SME PRIME is currently implemented in 110 schools across 23 states, serving more than 10,000 students annually,” said Kunz. “With over 90% of SME PRIME seniors pursuing manufacturing post high school—either through a manufacturing-related degree or by directly entering the workforce, we can further build the talent supply for manufacturing and focus the educational systems on the advanced technical skills needed to support today’s military and defense industrial needs.”

“The new collaboration with SME marks merely the initial phase in a broader vision and long-term partnership aimed at advancing the objectives of both our organizations and the U.S. Navy/Department of Defense,” said Rob Gorham, BlueForge Alliance Chief Executive and Co-Founder. “Together, we are not just filling jobs; we are deploying a scalable and systematic approach to advancing careers, enhancing lives through family sustaining wages, and driving national economic growth tailored to local requirements.”

For more information, visit SME.org or www.BlueForgeAlliance.us.