谈到关闭行业技能差距时，社区学院都在甜蜜的地方。比四年机构更灵活，社区学院的优势在响应时间，负担能力和进入前瞻性思维方案的优势。他们是独特的，成为美国的创新中心，他们在建立职业和技术教育方案的工作中难以如此拼命地需要。
Patrick & Henry Community College (PHCC) in Martinsville, Va., is a prime example, having built an employer-educator model centered on IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and Industry 4.0 preparedness. Daniel Edwards, instructor of industrial electronics technology, and David Dillard, associate professor of general engineering technology, at PHCC’s award-winning Advanced Manufacturing and Skilled Trades program explain why the model works.
What attracts employers and students to your program?
丹尼尔爱德华兹：The programs that Mr. Dillard and I lead, Industrial Electronics Technology and General Engineering Technology, are designed to anticipate the technological innovation and challenges people will encounter in today’s industrial workplace.
The employers we work with appreciate the flexibility of the training because it’s modular and customizable to their needs. Companies hire our graduates knowing these men and women are already highly trained to troubleshoot and handle a variety of tasks whether the job requires mechanical, electric, or fluid power maintenance.
At first, our students arrive knowing very little about industrial technology. Once they can interact with the cyber-physical systems, they’re able to see and touch the result of digital transformation in modern manufacturing. They realize they’re at the forefront of something big, walking around in what looks and feels like the future. It doesn’t take long for them to see the big picture and realize the value of having access to these career pathways.
David Dillard:We’re fortunate to have a 103,000 square foot facility where we can provide industry tours to the public. We give tours to K-12 all the way up to seasoned working professionals. They’re really surprised at the level of technology involved in the training system. It piques students’ curiosity to picture themselves in that setting, operating networked machinery alongside robots.
When students tour the lab and decide, ‘hey, I can do this’ that’s always an exciting and rewarding moment for us as teachers.
When employers tour the lab and see the cyber-physical workstations, they know the students will be well-equipped to meet industry needs. The simulated smart factory equipment the students train on is exactly like what they have on their factory floor.
你让人们合格的行业4.0有什么方法是什么？
达德:可堆叠的凭证是我们学生成功的巨大部分。学生可以在没有整个学期的情况下获得认证。这真的让他们有动力和专注。他们有很多小型胜利，达到了学位，它使他们赋予他们，因为他们知道每个认证都会增加他们的就业能力。它还为招聘经理提供信心了解这些候选人具有行业认可的微凭证。
爱德华兹：除了所提到的大卫之外，我们还专注于通过咨询委员会，实习，实地考察和课堂访问一起带来行业和教育。雇主将行业知识带到桌子上，将课堂覆盖的材料带入光线。雇主伙伴关系还确保学生在IIOT发展中保持最新状态。我们看到这种模型的有效性反映在我们的程序的需求中 - 它高于我们可以训练的学生人数。我不能毕业他们足够快。有时雇主会在完成计划之前舀起来。
You started out with a mechatronics program. What did it take to scale that program into comprehensive training for Industry 4.0?
爱德华兹：It starts with baby steps. We scaled from a solid foundation in mechatronics first to be able to innovate and evolve into stackable credential offerings for Industry 4.0. By making incremental investments in the right equipment (such as theFestoMPS Series) we went from teaching mechatronics to offering various courses and career pathways in advanced manufacturing.
达德: In 2018, we integrated the Festo Industry 4.0 Certification Program (FI4.0CP) into our existing programs in mechatronics, industrial electronics technology, and general engineering technology. This allowed us to provide industry approved certifications in mechanical systems, electrical systems, pneumatic systems, programmable logic controllers, and robotic systems. To date, we’ve issued more than 1,200 certifications.
What additional steps can be taken in the process of building these types of programs?
爱德华兹: The first thing I would advise instructors to do is to get certified in Industry 4.0. It only takes a few days to complete the NC3 (National Coalition of Certification Centers) Train-the-Trainer workshop. There’s a lot of value in terms of what you can relay to students, and it can make a big impact on how you decide to develop your programs. I recently went to a Train-the-Trainer event and was happy to see several K-12 instructors in attendance.
It’s important to nurture relationships with industry by starting locally. A local company,American Electric Power(AEP), donated $200,000 to our program; that’s how we were able to purchase the equipment we needed to teach Level 1 of the Industry 4.0 certification program. Now we’re issuing Level I and Level II certifications and working towards Level III soon.
Community organizations and foundations can also play a role. Thanks to funding from the AEP Foundation, we were able to complete our equipment sets for Level I and II certifications, and together we established the AEP Foundation Industry 4.0 Alliance. The Harvest Foundation generously provided equipment for Level III, making PHCC the first in the nation to offer all three levels of Fi4.0CP.
达德:我会补充一点，虽然Covid-19很难，如果您可以，与其他学校的雇主和教师可以面对面，因为它可以导致新的想法，关系和机遇
