What do you get when you mix imagination, open-source collaboration, and millions of interlocking plastic bricks? It's the world of Lego - encouraging an entire future generation of engineers.

An article in the May issue of Smithsonian shows the evolution of the toy brand from free-form building blocks to the medium behind student robotics competitions around the world. By learning about design thinking through playing with Legos, "(Kids) see that there is no right or wrong answer, just an infinite number of ways to address a problem," said Chris Rogers, a professor of mechanial engineering at Tufts University. "Learning that is as critical to engineering as it is to life."

Accompanying the article was a fascinating infographic on the possibilities offered by a STEM-focused education, including the tremendous salary advantages that a science and engineering-related career holds vs. the average for all other career fields.

The educational organization FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology - sponsors Lego leagues and helps kids learn about the collaboration and teamwork that go into design and production. If you know of an interested student, check their website for information about leagues and events.

So parents, next time you experience the agony of stepping barefoot onto a Lego brick, just remember that those little plastic blocks could be key to an innovative future - and maybe even a great STEM career!

I’ve heard a lot about how the current crop of young people are entitled, lazy, and unprepared for a rapidly changing employment landscape - where competition from millions of technically skilled foreign workers will bring about the end of the American middle class. Pretty scary stuff! On a recent trip to Penn High School in Mishawaka, IN, however, I met a group of super smart, highly engaged high school students learning technical skills and applying them directly to projects with a proficiency I could have only dreamed about at their age. Due to the school’s difficult curriculum, these kids will be able to land a job immediately after leaving high school, with or without a college education, and make some serious coin. In the immortal words of The Who, “The Kids Are Alright!”­­­ 

I traveled out to Mishawaka for Making College Work Night, an event co-sponsored by AMT, local manufacturing companies, and various educational institutions. We brought the IMTS Rally Fighter to drum up excitement about the event and draw attention to the diverse careers available in the manufacturing technology industry. As a group of students from the STEM (Science, Technology, Education, and Math) Academy were helping me roll the car down the hall, I got word that they were building a ladder climbing, Frisbee throwing robot. Being an avid disc tosser since high school, I was intrigued and grabbed my video camera to get a closer look. 

As I entered the STEM wing of the high school I was immediately impressed by all of the resources these students had at their disposal. Everywhere I looked there were fully loaded Macs and PCs running CAD software. Adjacent to the classrooms was a fully equipped fabrication shop loaded with machine tools, welding gear, and soldering stations. It was a different level than the physics classrooms I remember in high school, containing a few oscilloscopes and some scales. 

After a day of interviews, trust me when I say the future is in very good hands. The students I met were a cut above the rest and destined to kick some serious butt in life. Everybody I spoke with was extremely knowledgeable, and I found myself struggling to just keep up, much less ask an intelligent follow-up question that didn’t let on I had no idea what they were talking about. I can’t imagine where I would be if my high school had those kind of resources and pushed me to experiment with different skill sets before deciding what I wanted to do in college and with the rest of my life. 

Penn High School is stepping up and providing its students with the technical skills and knowledge they need to get good paying jobs straight out of high school and succeed in an increasingly competitive and global workplace. The future success of the manufacturing industry in the U.S. depends on providing upcoming generations with the skills and knowledge they need to compete and build solutions. Penn High School is a shining example of how to accomplish just that. 

Watch the video below for interviews with Penn High School students and teachers as well as a demonstration of their ultimate ascent robot. 

Whether it be in design, materials, sustainability or changing trends in the industry, Manufacturing has some serious and exciting new challeges ahead.  

Here is a 5 minute video, discussing the need for our industry to use recycled materials, to try new fabricating methods and to have an eye on the upcoming trends.

Video compliments of Sandvik Coromant (this is not a commericial for their products - trust me)

What is your company doing to address these new challeges?

As spring makes its early bloom (well, right after we get through this snow storm), it won’t be terribly long before students will be out of school for summer. Have you considered bringing on one (or more) of those students as a technical intern? If you haven’t thought about developing an internship program at your company, you absolutely should. Here are some reasons why:

•  It will help you later: A common concern throughout all of manufacturing is the lack of skilled workers. Bringing on an intern is one step toward building your own “homegrown” talent. They will get trained to your specifications, for the skills that you need.
• It’s “try before you buy”: When you hire someone off the street, you always take a risk that the person who seemed so great in your interview won’t really cut it on your shop floor. With an intern, you get a number of weeks to see how well they perform and fit into your company culture. They’ll know you, and you’ll know them. Come time for the intern to find a full-time job, they’re going to know and remember you, and you may just have the perfect hire.
• It’s low cost: Sure, if you can afford to pay your interns something, you absolutely should. Rules vary in terms of how much you have to pay, but the bottom line is that it won’t cost you as much as a full-time hire. (If you only offer bare-bones pay, however, or no pay at all, your schedule should accommodate the intern’s possible need to work another paying job. It’s true that you are paying them with real-world experience, but many of them still have tuition bills and living expenses.)
• Schools can help you find them: Some educational institutions require a certain number of experience hours for a student to earn a degree. Contact your local community or technical college to find out if they have such a program, or how you might get in touch with eligible students.
• They aren’t just limited to summer: If you can be flexible around class schedules, interns are often available year-round. Again, contact your local educational institutions to find out if they have a formal internship program.

MTCareers is the place to find the pipeline of newest talent coming into the manufacturing industry. Post your internships and entry-level job openings at MTCareers.org.