October marked the celebration of Manufacturing Day and Month, an annual effort to get students interested in manufacturing careers and celebrate those already working in manufacturing! To mark Manufacturing Day 2024, the ARM Institute hosted a joint event for high school students with our fellow Pittsburgh headquarter collaborators Catalyst Connection and Carnegie Mellon University’s Manufacturing Futures Institute (MFI) in early October. The event convened over 100 students from the Pittsburgh region for a half day of interactive activities celebrating all things manufacturing. Pittsburgh region educators and administrators also joined us for an educator session, during which they learned about free resources available to them to connect their students to manufacturing careers.
The student portion of our event featured three activities: a panel discussion where students heard directly from individuals working in manufacturing, an exhibit hall of area training providers and manufacturers, and interactive robotics and additive manufacturing demonstrations.
Dive deeper into our event below. Plus, further on this page, learn about free resources available to connect individuals to manufacturing opportunities throughout the year.
Getting Hands-On
Manufacturing can feel like a foreign concept for students. However, once they realize that manufacturing is the process by which we make the things they use every day, it can start to feel more tangible. During our event, students had the opportunity to explore a variety of manufacturing demonstrations, from robotics demonstrations that are solving problems for manufacturers through the ARM Institute’s Robotics Manufacturing Hub program to key additive manufacturing research from MFI. Students were also able to explore an autonomous vehicle from Motional, which resides next door to the ARM Institute at Mill 19.
We also welcomed key partners to our event. ARM Member Premier Automation had a table
Connecting with Industry Experts
Hearing directly from individuals working in the manufacturing industry helps students better envision themselves actually in those roles. Elizabeth DeVita (ARM Institute Education & Certification Manager) moderated a panel discussion featuring three manufacturing experts. Students had the opportunity to hear directly from individuals working in the manufacturing industry. Our panel featured:
- William Miller is the ARM Institute’s Principal Engineer, In this role, William is responsible for the technical aspects of the institute’s Robotics Manufacturing Hub program that helps small and medium-sized manufacturers in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region explore and prototype robotics solutions at no cost. William joined the ARM Institute in 2022 from Uber’s Advanced Technology Group (ATG) where he served as the system architect for the thermal management system. Prior to Uber ATG, he led the mechanical engineering team at Carnegie Robotics. In these and prior roles at L3Harris Mr. Miller has leveraged a strong background in structural simulation, analysis, and test to solve complex problems across a variety of applications. William holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering design and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester.
- Jeff Cram is the Senior Director of Cellular Process Development at ElevateBio. Jeff has over 20 years of process development, manufacturing, and technology management experience. Over his career Jeff has led multiple cellular process development teams developing both clinical and commercial drug product manufacturing processes for a variety of cell and gene therapies. Prior to ElevateBio, Jeff led the cellular process development group at Bluebird Bio and was responsible for developing drug product manufacturing processes for both hematopoietic progenitor cell and CART cell programs. Prior to BLUE, Jeff was a Project Leader in the Novel Cell Therapy Laboratory at Dana Farber Cancer Institute where he successfully developed, transferred, and manufactured a wide variety of gene and cell therapy products. His teams have focused on product and process understanding and worked to develop innovative technologies that have been adopted throughout the industry.
- Maddie E. Wilson Smith from the Pittsburgh Foundry and Machine. Maddie is a 2018 Grad from Kent State University with her Bachelors of Science concentrating in Mechatronics and this past spring graduated to Penn State World Campus with her Master of Engineering Management. She started her career at Waupaca Foundry at the Lawrenceville Pa location where she spent roughly two years, one as an inventory controller and the other year at the tooling engineer and pattern shop supervisor. She then moved to the Waupaca Etowah, TN location and again started as the inventory controller and then as a tooling engineer. With a nice background in inventory control and also tooling Maddie has since left Waupaca to move back to Pennsylvania where she is the Customer service manager for Pittsburgh Foundry and Machine. While staying involved in the metal casting industry Maddie is part of the FEF Board of directors and the FEF alumni outreach committee, Secretary to Women of Metal Casting Board, sits on the local Pittsburgh Chapter of AFS and most recently joined the AFS Management Councils. Maddie is also a graduate of BotsIQ, an ARM Institute Endorsed Training Program.
Taking the Next Step
Helping students understand how they can take the next step to get a meaningful, fulfilling, and well paying job in manufacturing is key. Our event featured an exhibit hall of regional training providers, including BotsIQ and the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), both of which are ARM Endorsed Training Programs. By being endorsed by the ARM Institute, these programs are proven to give students the skills they need for a robotics career in manufacturing. This exhibit hall also featured Carnegie Mellon University’ College of Engineering, Catalyst Connection, Center of Life, Community College of Beaver, and others.
Pittsburgh Robotics Network’s Discovery Day
Beyond Manufacturing Day, our team had the opportunity to connect with job seekers, students, and our fellow robotics leaders in Pittsburgh during ARM Member Pittsburgh Robotics Network’s Annual Discovery Day event this fall. This event convenes Pittsburgh’s robotics ecosystem to showcase the opportunities that exist in robotics and help to build the region’s workforce.
The ARM Institute had two booths at this event: one where our fellow robotics organizations could learn more about the benefits of ARM Institute Membership and another in the Pittsburgh Robotics Career Center where students and job seekers could get hands-on with RoboticsCareer.org, create a profile, ask questions, and connect to other employment resources.
Jay Douglass, ARM Institute COO, also took the stage during Discovery Day to highlight how the ARM Institute’s Robotics Manufacturing Hub program helps manufacturers in the Pittsburgh region adopt robotics by providing free resources to them.
Our team congratulations ARM Member the Pittsburgh Robotics Network on another successful Discovery Day event!
RoboticsCareer.org: Your Workforce Resource for Robotics Careers in Manufacturing
Connecting students and job seekers with the resources that they need for a robotics career in manufacturing can’t stop with Manufacturing Day’s conclusion. The ARM Institute’s RoboticsCareer.org platform is the nation’s only resource dedicated specifically to robotics careers in manufacturing. Through this free resource, we’re working to secure the future of U.S. manufacturing by increasing the awareness of robotics jobs in manufacturing, building the next generation of makers, and connecting employers and training providers to key resources.
Your RoboticsCareer.org profile helps you:
- Connect your students and job seekers of all ages and experience levels to robotics training and job listings in manufacturing
- Promote your training program for free and get free inquiries from interested prospects sent to your inbox.
- Enhance your visibility on our platform through ARM Endorsement
- Build your workforce through employer resources and a robust talent database where you can search for qualified workers who have the skills that you need
- Support your existing workforce by finding programs that will help you upskill your workers in preparation to work with robotics
Create your account to get started
Questions about RoboticsCareer.org? Contact us at [email protected].
ABOUT THE ARM INSTITUTE
The ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute is a Manufacturing Innovation Institute (MII) funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense under Agreement Number W911NF-17-3-0004 and is part of the Manufacturing USA® network. The ARM Institute leverages a unique, robust, and diverse ecosystem of over 400 consortium members and partners across industry, academia, and government to make robotics, autonomy, and artificial intelligence more accessible to U.S. manufacturers large and small, train and empower the manufacturing workforce, strengthen our economy and global competitiveness, and elevate national security and resilience. Based in Pittsburgh, PA since 2017, with a regional office in St. Petersburg, FL, the ARM Institute is leading the way to a future where people and robots work together to respond to our nation’s greatest challenges and to produce the world’s most desired products. For more information, visit www.arminstitute.org and follow the ARM Institute on LinkedIn and X(Twitter).