Florida TRADE at SPC will offer screenings of the Made in Florida movie (27 minutes long) followed by an information session about the short-term manufacturing training available at St. Petersburg College. The Made in Florida movie features manufacturing businesses from all over the state and their modern technical environments! Please plan to attend at one of these locations:
10/21/2015 at 2:00 p.m. / James Weldon Johnson Library (1059 18th Avenue South, St. Pete)
10/27/2015 at 2:00 p.m / Seminole Library (9200 113th Street North, Seminole)

And, please plan to attend the On Your Mark, Get Skills, GO! event to become more familiar with engineering technologies, Florida TRADE, Workforce & Professional Development, LINCS Supply Chain, internship, and employment opportunities.
Monday, Oct. 26
5:30 to 8:00p.m.
ES104, SPC Clearwater campus

St. Petersburg College will participate in another federal Department of Labor grant -- Creating apprenticeships!!
Manufacturing is one of the high tech industries targeted by the Florida Apprenticeship Consortium! The partnerships will combine the efforts of employers, colleges, industry organizations, state and regional Registered Apprenticeship systems, state and regional workforce investment systems, school districts, community nonprofits and state agencies to expand high-quality apprenticeships. Read more about it here!

There are Florida TRADE graduates ready for internships or job openings!
Visit the Employer Portal or contact the Florida TRADE recruiter, Ariel Boone at Boone.Ariel@spcollege.edu or 727 212 9164 for resumes and information
Find out more: Information Sessions - 5pm
Thursday, October 29, 5pm / Midtown, Jamerson 141
Thursday, November 12, 5pm / Seminole, UP176 10am session Tuesday, October 27, 10am / Clearwater, Room ES104

Questions? Contact: Jill Flansburg, Program Coordinator, 727-791-2508
For more Manufacturing Resources, visit the FL-ATE website!

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, several people representing manufacturing, associations, and education came before the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners and accepted a proclamation declaring October as Manufacturing Month.

Watch the video here

October 2, 2015
Today, on National Manufacturing Day, the Manufacturers Association of Florida announced they will circulate a pledge to Florida Legislators that is due by December 1, 2015 where members can declare their opposition to raising taxes on Florida manufacturing. In 2013, the Legislature temporarily agreed to eliminate the sales tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment, from 2014 to 2017. If legislators fail to act to make this exemption permanent, the positive growth seen in manufacturing in the last 15 months could slow significantly. That positive growth is evidence that the “temporary” sales tax exemption is working. Manufacturing generates more economic activity per dollar invested in Florida than any other industry, with a multiplier of $1.43 for every $1 invested.

Nancy Stephens, Executive Director of the Manufacturers Association of Florida said, “Manufacturing jobs are the jobs we need in our state to diversify Florida’s economy. We need to increase exports and produce more goods and that’s exactly what Florida manufacturers do. The more taxes imposed on expensive manufacturing equipment, the harder it is to create jobs. We call on the Florida Legislature to take immediate action to permanently eliminate the sales tax on manufacturing equipment and machinery.”

Florida ranks among the nation’s top 10 states for manufacturing and is home to more than 19,000 manufacturing companies. The state’s 330,000+ manufacturing employees produce a wide variety of goods including communications equipment, aerospace products, batteries, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, boats, food and beverage products and more.

This tax will disproportionately target Florida manufacturers. Most states do not have a sales tax on manufacturing equipment and Florida manufacturers will be put at a competitive disadvantage if this tax is not eliminated permanently.”

For more information on the Manufacturers Association of Florida, visit www.mafmfg.com 1625 Summit Lake Drive, Suite 300, Tallahassee, FL 32317 850.402.2954

See posts and photos from Manufacturing Day student tours here:
www.facebook.com/bamafla

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) as a recipient of its American Apprenticeship grants program.

FSCJ is leading the Florida Apprenticeship consortium, and will support involvement with St. Petersburg College and Broward College, which will work with businesses and other partners to close the workforce skills gap faced by the Information Technology, Manufacturing, Healthcare and Construction/Trades industries across Florida by promoting the growth and expansion of quality and innovative apprenticeship programs over the next five years. A total of 1,000 participants in the state of Florida will be served through this grant program.

“This grant positions FSCJ as a leader in providing proven training opportunities to employers and workers in Florida through the creation of apprenticeship programs,” said Florida State College at Jacksonville President Dr. Cynthia Bioteau. “Aligning apprenticeships to education and job training will promote further learning and career advancement opportunities for our students.” “We are proud to be a partner with Florida State College at Jacksonville, supporting the growth of many in-demand industry sectors, such as information technology, manufacturing and healthcare,” said Broward College President J. David Armstrong, Jr. “With this grant, we will be able to assist in closing the skills gap concerns many of these industries face, while delivering quality education and training so our students are prepared to enter these competitive, well-paying industries.”

“We are honored to partner with Florida State College at Jacksonville and Broward College to expand apprenticeships that will prepare our students for sustainable employment in high demand fields,” said St. Petersburg College President Bill Law. “This collaborative, grassroots initiative also will benefit employers and the economy, by ensuring a deeper pool of highly skilled workers in growing industries.”

Located in strategic areas throughout Florida, the strong and experienced consortium of three state colleges will develop this innovative and lasting public-private partnership involving employers, industry organizations, state and regional Registered Apprenticeship systems, state and regional workforce investment systems, school districts, community nonprofits and state agencies.

Studies have already quantified the long-term financial benefits of this approach to U.S. workers—those who complete an apprenticeship earn an average starting wage of $50,000 and go on to earn an average of $300,000 more over a lifetime than comparable workers. Florida Apprenticeship is a promising model of rewarding and advancing high-performing, entry-level and incumbent employees, including students currently enrolled in related training programs, incumbent workers looking to advance their careers, veterans with related experience, pre-apprentices, unemployed workers and minorities.

The project will also explore articulating apprenticeships as a bridge from associate to bachelor’s degrees. The Department of Labor selected 46 partnerships to receive grant funding, with awards ranging from $2 million to $5 million.

About FSCJ
Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) is a public, nonprofit higher education institution that offers more than 150 degree and certificate programs to meet the education and training needs of more than 57,000 students per year.

Here is the September edition of the FLATE Focus, a publication of FLATE—Florida Advanced Technological Education Center—a National Science Foundation Center of Excellence in manufacturing, supporting high-tech manufacturing/manufacturing-related careers and technical education in Florida.

If you have any questions, comments, and/or suggestions, please email us at news@fl-ate.org, or sound off across our social networking platforms on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @Made_InFlorida using the official hastag of the month: #MFGday15

In pdf form:  FLATE Focus-september2015.pdf

Friday, October 2 is Manufacturing Day, not only around Florida but around the Nation. Middle and High School students will tour manufacturing facilities during the month of October to learn what careers are possible in manufacturing and to see what is actually made locally.  If your plant or facility would like to participate, please email becky@bama-fl.org to find out more!

DOT, Education, and Labor Release Joint Transportation Jobs Report
SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (DOT) AUG 25, 2015

The U.S. Departments of Transportation, Education, and Labor on Aug. 24 released a joint report entitled “Strengthening Skills Training and Career Pathways across the Transportation Industry.” The report details the future growth areas or employment “hot spots” in transportation by industry subsectors, occupations, career areas, and geographic areas. It also identifies good-paying, high-demand transportation jobs and analyzes the patterns in the education and work experience required for entry, including on-the-job training requirements for new entrants to gain full competency.

“Careers in the transportation industry can lift Americans into the middle class or help them stay there, and this report concludes that there will be more job opportunities in the near future,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx. “We want to fill all these new positions, so industry and government must increase recruitment and help young people get the skills, training, and apprenticeships they need to gain entry into these careers.”

The report indicates that employers will need to hire and train a total of 4.6 million new workers – 1.2 times the current transportation workforce – due to expected growth, retirements, and turnover in the transportation industry from 2012 to 2022. Projections suggest that 417,000 of these positions will be created as a direct result to increased demand on our transportation systems. The highest percentage of these jobs will be in transit and ground passenger transportation and these new openings will be concentrated in the West Coast, the Gulf Coast, the upper Mid-Atlantic, several Mountain States, and the Midwest.

Much of the regional transportation job growth is driven by growth in the large metropolitan areas within those regions – the highest number of job openings in transportation will likely be generated in New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago. In addition, these jobs will pay relatively well. Thirteen out of the top 20 highest demand transportation jobs pay above the median wage, sometimes substantially.

"Ensuring that America continues to lead the way in the global economy means not only investing in the physical infrastructure that allows us to move goods and keep up with global demand, but also the skills infrastructure to support this growing workforce,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Through smart investments in apprenticeships and other work-based training programs, transportation jobs are helping millions of Americans punch their tickets to the middle class."

While demand for transportation workers will vary by region, subsector, and occupation, these workforce changes will result in increased job opportunities for skilled and semi-skilled workers across the transportation sector. For every future job opening in central services or construction in the transportation industry, there will be an estimated two jobs in maintenance and 21 in operations. The recruitment and training of new and current workers responsible for the operation, maintenance, and construction of America’s transportation infrastructure will be critical to maintaining a system that meets our economic and security needs in the 21st century global economy.

But the report also highlights a significant skills gap in the demand for and supply of high skilled workers; it indicates that projected annual job openings are 68 percent larger than the number of students who are completing related educational programs annually across selected transportation occupational groups. One solution is an increase in Career and Technical Education programs of study. Such programs begin in high school and continue into postsecondary education or apprenticeship and provide the foundational and early occupational skills training needed in skilled occupations. Pre-apprenticeship programs for disadvantaged youth and adults can prepare low-skilled and underrepresented populations for entry into these skilled positions. Furthermore, Career Pathways systems that are aligned with Registered Apprenticeship programs can expand the number of people who can access these high-demand jobs.

“In today’s society, it is important that all of our students are well-equipped with the knowledge and skills to compete in a global economy,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “There are incredible opportunities for Americans in the transportation industry and the Department is fully committed to working with leaders in the industry to promote partnerships between education and workforce institutions in order to support training programs that will help our country succeed.”

3D Pills?

The FDA has previously approved medical devices - including prosthetics - that have been 3D printed. The new drug, dubbed Spritam, was developed by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals to control seizures brought on by epilepsy. The company said that it planned to develop other medications using its 3D platform.
Read more:
FDA Approves First Pill Made by 3D Printing - Web MD

The Hype Behind Printable Pills - Manufacturing Net (video)

FDA’s approval of first 3-D-printed pill opens up endless possibilities for personalized medicine - Washington Post