SME and CESMII Join Forces to Accelerate Smart Manufacturing Adoption

SME and CESMII are partnering to drive smart manufacturing adoption further and faster by aligning their resources and educating the industry, helping companies boost productivity, build a strong talent pipeline, and reduce manufacturers’ carbon footprint.

Without recreating the wheel, CESMII and SME will strategically combine their networks and resources to advance smart manufacturing adoption and address the “digital divide” by connecting manufacturers to technical knowledge. These efforts will especially help small and medium-size companies—a large part of the supply network—to overcome the cost and complexity of automation and digitization that has constrained productivity and growth initiatives.

Smart Manufacturing Executive Council

The first joint initiative—which builds on the strength of what already exists in the market yet creates something different—is the formation of a new national Smart Manufacturing Executive Council.

This new council will engage business and technology executives, thought leaders and visionaries as a “think tank” advocating for the transformation of the ecosystem. It will build on each organization’s history of working with industry giants who volunteer their time and impart their knowledge to benefit the industry.

Members of the council will act as ambassadors to drive the national conversation and vision for smart manufacturing in America. Working with policy makers and others, the council will unify the ecosystem around a common set of interoperability, transparency, sustainability and resiliency goals and principles for the smart manufacturing ecosystem.

Manufacturing Workforce Focus

For the industry to move forward and innovate, the workforce must be prepared and motivated. The need for richer, scalable education and workforce development is more important than ever.

SME’s training organization, Tooling U-SME, is an industry leading learning and development solutions provider, working with thousands of companies, including more than half of all Fortune 500 manufacturers as well as 800 educational institutions across the country. CESMII has in-depth training content on smart manufacturing technology, business practices, and workforce development. Leveraging Tooling U-SME’s reach into industry and academia, the synergistically combined CESMII and Tooling U-SME training portfolios and new content collaborations will expedite smart manufacturing adoption, driving progress through transformational workforce development.

Through this national collaboration, Tooling U-SME will become a key partner for CESMII for advancing education and workforce development around smart manufacturing.

Together, CESMII and Tooling U-SME will set a new benchmark for developing educational resources that remain current with rapidly changing technology and focus on democratizing access to training on smart manufacturing skills.

Generating Awareness

Building awareness is a big part of this initiative. Combining CESMII’s network of subject matter experts and SME’s reach and expertise in producing industry-leading events including Smart Manufacturing Experience and media publications, will help communicate the value of smart manufacturing as well as demonstrate technology solutions.