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SME and CESMII Join Forces to Accelerate Smart Manufacturing Adoption

November 12, 2021 by Stephanie Leonida

SME and the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute unite to bring smart manufacturing educational resources to students across the U.S. and accelerate industry 4.0 adoption.

The Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII)

The Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) is a non-profit organization that works alongside the U.S. Department of Energy to enhance manufacturing. CESMII is the 9th Institute of the Manufacturing USA established by the White House and is one of the first institutes to receive funding from EERE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office


An engineer working in a real-life smart manufacturing scenario. Image used courtesy of CESMII

 

The manufacturing institute wishes to accelerate the adoption of digitally transformative and smart manufacturing operations. To democratize smart manufacturing in the U.S., CESMII works on combining Industry 4.0 and data analytics. 

Recently, CESMII announced a partnership with a non-profit association dedicated to supporting and promoting the manufacturing industry, SME.

 

A Vision for Smart Manufacturing

The partnership between CESMII and SME is intended to help create awareness of the value of smart manufacturing. Both organizations also aim to transform today’s manufacturing workforce into a more skilled workforce of the future. 

The first joint initiative focuses on generating a new national Smart Manufacturing Executive Council. The council will bring together and engage business and technology executives, thought leaders, and visionaries. 

This network will advocate for the transformation of the manufacturing ecosystem. Several council members will be ambassadors for the preservation and vision for smart manufacturing in the U.S. The council will use a set of interoperability, transparency, sustainability, and resiliency goals and principles to unify the smart manufacturing ecosystem.

 

Up-skilling the Manufacturing Workforce

SMEs training organization, Tooling U-SME, is well established in the production and provision of learning management system software, certifications, and content for the manufacturing industry. Tooling U-SME has worked alongside half of all Fortune 500 manufacturers and 800 educational institutions across the U.S.

CESMII intends to work with Tooling U-SME, providing training content on smart manufacturing technology, business practices, and workforce development. The two organizations will develop tailored educational resources and provide greater access to training resources to jump-start workforce development.

 

The logo for Tooling U-SME. Image used courtesy of Tooling U-SME
 

In their press release, Vice President of Tooling U-SME, Jeannine Kunz, said, “Our vision, as two nonprofit organizations focused on creating a more productive and competitive manufacturing environment, is completely aligned around accelerating the transformation of the U.S. manufacturing workforce.”

In the same press release, Vice President of Ecosystem and Workforce Education at CESMII, Conrad Leiva, commented, “Manufacturers are looking for a more effective, future-proof approach to upskill their workforce, and we believe that the best way to accomplish that is for CESMII and Tooling U-SME to work together.” Leiva added, “This partnership brings together the deep domain expertise and necessary skills with the know-how to package education, work with employers and schools and effectively deliver it at scale nationally.”

Together, CESMII and SME hope to pave a new roadway of educational development for the manufacturing experts of tomorrow’s digitally driven world and establish a network for smart manufacturing.