$15M 'Digital Thread' proposal seeks to add technologies to skills … – The Business Journals
A regional defense contractor is looking to further expand partnerships with local community colleges in an effort to expand the training and skillset development of Ohio’s growing manufacturing workforce.
ARCTOS, one of the region’s largest defense contractors, recently submitted a proposal to the Dayton Region Priority Development & Advocacy Committee (PDAC) requesting $15 million in funding to support the Smart Manufacturing Ohio Digital Threat Initiative III — the third phase of an initiative first launched in 2019.
The first phase of the program enabled three community colleges — Sinclair, Clark State and Lorain County Community College — to pilot digital thread concepts designed to skill, reskill and upskill students and workers to help Ohio aerospace companies maintain their dominance in precision manufacturing of aerospace parts.
The second phase enabled the program to create a “digital learning factory” where Miami Valley schools can share assets with other learning institutions and industry partners without duplicating resources.
The third phase will build upon previous efforts to focus on developing skills required by the industry through principles of problem-based learning focused on the rapidly emerging digital thread economy. Through this phase, students and workers will solve real-world digital manufacturing problems provided by industry using state-of-the-art precision digital manufacturing equipment. Students will be exposed to careers in the disruptive technologies of additive manufacturing, photonics, trusted systems, autonomy and robotics as well as the significance of big data analytics to the manufacturing process.
The initiative will fund technology integration; currently, the Air Force Sustainment Center and other industry partners to ARCTOS are looking for integrated technology packages to address advanced manufacturing needs. This requires development of integrated training packages that utilize elements of each technology focus areas—such as machine learning and digital scanning—and will allow the program to pilot the sharing of training via Ohio TechNet.
There is an expectation of continued growth at an accelerated pace over the next year in digital manufacturing, and ARCTOS has foreseen an expanded demand in all areas of focus as more manufacturers in the region adopt Industry 4.0 technologies and seek a trained workforce.
PDAC, which is staffed by the Dayton Development Coalition, allows the community to set priorities when seeking funding from state and federal sources. PDAC projects will go through review panels of subject matter experts in December and January. The Priority Development and Advocacy Committee (PDAC) is tentatively scheduled to provide final recommendations for projects Feb. 10, 2023.
At that time government and private sector sources will respectively award funding based on PDAC recommendations.
If the funding request is approved, the funds would be ready to spend immediately.
ARCTOS is a global aviation services and technology solutions provider for the defense, aerospace and intelligence markets. It delivers full lifecycle system support, applying enabling technologies such as digital engineering, data analytics, cyber operations, modeling and simulation, and model-based systems engineering.
Formerly known as Universal Technology Corp., the company rebranded as ARCTOS following a merger in September 2019.
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