Education Key to Getting Aerospace Off Ground

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Last summer on California Aerospace Day, a panel of aerospace experts reminded state legislators that California’s aerospace industry is bigger than the state’s motion picture and agricultural industries. It’s a reminder that, although California is losing aerospace jobs to other states, the industry is too important to the state’s economy to neglect.

Fifty percent of the country’s aerospace suppliers are in California, with the majority located in Los Angeles County. The major prime contractors have a footprint here: Boeing alone has nearly 29,000 employees at work in the county. And these are well-paying jobs: Aerospace products and parts manufacturing jobs in the state pay 47 percent higher than other manufacturing jobs, according to a recent survey by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. The survey also points to some areas of potential growth for the region, including an increased use of unmanned aircraft systems and small satellites.

But here’s the rub. Los Angeles will be able to seize growth opportunities only if government, industry and education work together to replace aging skilled workers with a new generation of scientists, engineers and technicians.

The challenge for the county, state and entire country cannot be overstated. The aerospace and defense manufacturing sector is at a crossroads in terms of workforce development. In order to stay competitive in the global marketplace, we must drive innovation from across the supply chain to find answers that can reduce costs and speed production times. This requires an educated workforce with skills that can keep pace with the rapid changes in technology. These are jobs that are going unfilled and stifling growth.

My organization, the non-profit Society of Manufacturing Engineers, will host an event in Long Beach in March called AeroDef Manufacturing. The prime contractors will meet with suppliers to collaborate to find solutions that can address our manufacturing challenges.

If innovation can happen anywhere in the country, it should happen in Los Angeles. The region has some of the best engineering schools in the country and the largest community college district.

Ever since Jack Northrop fired up his airplanes in a garage in Hawthorne, this region has been an incubator for aerospace innovation. Space Shuttle Endeavor, with many of its parts made here, recently returned to Southern California for permanent exhibit.

The Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena has engineered Curiosity to land on Mars with accuracy comparable to a basketball hook shot from New York to Los Angeles that’s “nothing but net.” Aerospace transformed the Californian agricultural economy into a manufacturing powerhouse – and much of the innovation touched other industries like electronics, consumer products, and energy.

The state and county have also shown leadership in deploying programs to develop a technical workforce:

• Hawthorne High School. Hawthorne participates in SME Education Foundation’s Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education, or PRIME, program. Hawthorne’s school of manufacturing and engineering has nearly 350 students who are engaged in a rigorous curriculum that includes 3-D computer design, CNC machining and robotics. Like other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs, local employers like Raytheon Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp., have a vested interest in grooming these students for the skills necessary to develop and maintain next-generation commercial and government programs.

• El Camino College in Torrance. The school participates in the Aerospace Manufacturing Education program, funded through a grant by the National Science Foundation. Aircraft manufacturers and suppliers collaborate on downloadable modules for use in manufacturing and engineering courses.

These are excellent examples of the types of collaborative programs necessary to maintain our competitiveness in modern manufacturing. But more is urgently needed. We need the academic community and industry to recognize and support accreditation of manufacturing programs and certification for manufacturing professionals.

At SME, we just announced a six-point strategic plan to fill some of the estimated 600,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs across the country. These strategies are similar to those put forth as a result of this year’s California Economic Summit Action Plan. The aerospace industry is eager to help and is, in fact, helping in programs across the country.

As the county and state assess strategies to boost long-term economic growth, I encourage policymakers to look to the sky. The aerospace and defense industries do more than just connect and protect us – investing here ensures a strong economic future for generations to come.

Debbie Holton is director of industry strategy and events at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in Dearborn, Mich. She is currently in Washington, D.C., on loan to the new National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, funded through a grant from the departments of Commerce and Defense.

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