Future Manufacturing

Timeline

August 2025-present

About the project

The US is a global leader in the adoption and development of industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing. However, the US manufacturing sector is expected to have around 2 million unfilled jobs, according to industry insights from Deloitte. Small and medium-sized manufacturers make up the majority of the manufacturing ecosystem and may be most impacted by gaps in recruiting and training for the next generation of workers.

This project seeks to 1) identify industry-based training opportunities for adopting and implementing cyber manufacturing technologies, 2) outline equitable onboarding and retention opportunities to build a diverse cyber manufacturing workforce, and 3) develop a career pipeline into the manufacturing industry.

This project is led by Dr. Julie Hui, assistant professor at Michigan’s School of Information, and Dr. Sarah Crane, research manager at the Economic Growth Institute at University of Michigan. This project is in collaboration with the University of California San Diego and is funded by the National Science Foundation.

My role

As the graduate research assistant, I will be assisting in conducting interviews with cyber manufacturing leaders, solution vendors, and shop floor workers to understand their experiences with technology adoption in the workplace. Moreover, I will contribute to the qualitative data analysis, literature review, and write-up of a manuscript for publication.