OSD ManTech M-EWD: Building Tomorrow’s Manufacturing Workforce

The Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program’s Manufacturing Education and Workforce Development (M-EWD) Program plays a key role in bridging the gap between forward thinkers in the manufacturing industry and Department of Defense. The M-EWD Program mission is to work alongside regional ecosystems to develop and enhance already established education systems to assist in the creation of a high-performance manufacturing workforce ready to support the needs of the defense industrial base (DIB). The M-EWD team works alongside the Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (DoD MII’s) to grow a workforce that is agile and ready to tackle the challenges of an ever-evolving manufacturing industry.

The mission of the M-EWD Program is to work through stakeholders to build an educated and skilled advanced manufacturing workforce that is prepared to meet the needs of an advanced technology-enabled manufacturing sector

Empowering America's Advanced Manufacturing Workforce

DoD Manufacturing Technology Program

March 28, 2022 | By Courtesy

Criticality of Mission

In Action

EWD Brochure

Successes

Click here for the latest DoD ManTech Success Stories book.

Criticality of Mission
In the U.S., manufacturing companies of all sizes and from all industry sectors share a pressing challenge – finding enough appropriately educated and skilled workers to fill available jobs. As reported by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute who have been tracking the skills shortage for the past 19 years:
- As many as 2.1M manufacturing positions (53 out of every 100 jobs) are expected to go unfilled through 2030 because of a shortage of skilled workers.
- Should this skills shortage persist, the U.S. risks losing $2.5T in economic output over the next decade.
- Demand for workers with advanced technology knowledge and skills is rapidly increasing due to expanded use of these new technologies. Research suggests that through 2030, workers can expect tasks requiring advanced technological skills to increase by 50 percent in the United States.
- Currently, the U.S. is not keeping up with its global competitors in addressing this challenge, ranking only ninth in the world for its workforce readiness to adapt to increased workplace automation.
The Department needs a resilient industrial base and workforce with advanced manufacturing skills to be globally competitive, enable technology modernization, and rapidly field weapons systems for a ready and dominant military force. The problem is a breakdown between education/training structures and a lag in numbers of advanced manufacturing-skilled workers. COVID-19 has exacerbated this problem, erasing approximately 1.4M U.S. manufacturing jobs and undoing more than a decade of manufacturing job gains (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Without an appropriately skilled and capable workforce, the Nation will be handicapped competitively, and national defense and economic security will be at risk.

Additional statistics are available here: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Manufacturing Institute, Deloitte, and The Economic Policy Institute.

About M-EWD Initiatives
Strategy
Progress

The M-EWD Program is leading multiple initiatives working alongside universities, regional colleges, and other federal agencies to investigate and understand the gaps in our workforce that are hindering the ability to build a skilled and capable advanced manufacturing workforce. A key to bridging the gap between industry and implementation is the DoD MII’s. Each institute, in its role as innovator is to develop and disseminate new cutting-edge technologies. DoD MIIs play a unique and critical role in connecting and aligning industry, education, and regional stakeholders. The M-EWD Program’s partnership with the DoD MII’s is to maintain awareness of these technologies and ensure training is available to support the technology and the workforce can implement it throughout the defense industrial base.

Students engage in LIFT's Learning Lab

The M-EWD Program has a vision of a workforce that is ready to implement new technologies in Defense products and manufacturing techniques without delay. The industrial base currently faces an unprecedented set of challenges, perhaps most notably a domestic workforce that lacks advanced manufacturing skills. Our strategy is to work alongside stakeholders to assist in creating a talent pool to support regional needs. We believe having a big picture view of implementation and building regional ecosystems we can see our vision come to life. Many of these groups have been individually pursuing important but disconnected strategies. The challenge facing the Nation is a complex "system of systems" challenge that requires collaborating to develop and execute shared strategies to affect greater impact on an accelerated timetable. The M-EWD Program wants to fix that with these three strategies:

Leveraging Interagency Efforts—working with internal stakeholders
Upscaling Solutions—within DoD MIIs
Building Regional Ecosystems – external stakeholders

OSD ManTech works collaboratively to drive innovation using the full capacity of the nation.

Scale of DoD MII EWD Programs
Between FY20 - FY24

700+ EWD projects and initiatives executed
500,000+ students, teachers, workforce trained by DoD MIIs
45% K-12 grade students
38% post-secondary students
14% upskilling members of the manufacturing workforce
3% teachers and trainers
34,000+ individuals completed a DoD MII professional development certification, apprenticeship, or training program

Sample DoD MII EWD Program Successes

NextFlex's FlexFactor has grown to national impact across 12 states, 35 community college and education partners, 50 industry partners, and 22,000+ participants.
LIFT’s Operation Next trained 1,000+ departing service members, National Guard and Reserve Members, military spouses, and veterans to transition into in-demand, high-paying manufacturing jobs. Over 90% of graduates are successfully recruited to work for major advanced manufacturing companies across the nation