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Identifying Workforce Needs and Collaboration Opportunities Across Advanced Manufacturing
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Office of Advanced Manufacturing (OAM)
Nexight helped develop the Manufacturing USA Occupation and Competency Framework, a first-of-its-kind national framework to help accelerate the recruitment and training of advanced manufacturing workers, as well as create a foundation for coordination and collaboration across the advanced manufacturing ecosystem.
The Challenge
How to Advance the U.S. Workforce Across an Evolving Manufacturing Landscape
Advanced manufacturing offers a clear pathway to help the United States strengthen its role as a leader in global manufacturing while providing high-quality jobs domestically.
While advanced manufacturing jobs require workers with a broad range of experience and skill sets, those tasked with building the workforce have encountered challenges, due in part to a lack of cross-industry definitions and awareness:
- Potential workers may be unaware of advanced manufacturing jobs or believe they aren’t qualified for them because they work in a different industry
- There have not been clear descriptions across industry sectors of the common knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed for many advanced manufacturing jobs
A 2023 report focused on strategies for revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing workforce recognized that the Manufacturing USA network offered a unique collaborative mechanism for developing opportunities to grow the advanced manufacturing workforce.
To enable this improved collaboration, the network first needed to adopt a common cross-sector vocabulary and understanding around the key occupations, skills, and competencies as well as the corresponding required KSAs that current and future workers will need.
Our Solution
A National Framework for Advanced Manufacturing Education and Workforce Development
Based on previous support, Nexight was asked to help the Manufacturing USA network develop an occupation and competency framework that could equip job seekers, employers, and trainers with the common language and understanding necessary to successfully meet the advanced manufacturing industry’s workforce needs.
To develop the framework, Nexight:
- Worked with all 18 Manufacturing USA Institutes to identify and catalog the key entry-level occupations and associated KSAs in their member industries
- Cross-referenced all the institute-identified competencies with industry- and expert-recognized models, including those published by the U.S. Department of Labor and the institutes themselves
- Either correlated the competencies using these models or catalogued them under new, cutting-edge competencies
- Identified and visually mapped opportunities for collaboration both between and within technology areas to advance network and institute education and workforce development goals
The resulting framework—with 235 unique KSAs for over 130 occupations—is a practical, industry-relevant resource that equips not only the Manufacturing USA network but also job seekers, employers, and trainers with a shared language and a clear foundation for workforce development decision-making.
Impact
With its standardization of occupations and KSAs across technologies, the Manufacturing USA Occupation and Competency Framework helps to accelerate the recruitment and training of workers nationwide by:
- Establishing a common language to enable coordination among industry, educators, workforce development organizations, and Manufacturing USA institutes
- Reducing duplication and fragmentation in curriculum development and training investment
- Creating a foundation for collaboration, allowing institutes and partners to identify overlapping workforce needs and opportunities for joint education and training initiatives