In December 2022, Harvard Business Review (HBR) published “The Partnership Imperative: Community Colleges, Employers, and America’s Chronic Skills Gap” (Fuller & Raman, 2022) based on surveys conducted from November 2020 to April 2021. Researchers from Harvard Business School’s Project on Managing the Future of Work gathered 347 responses from leaders in businesses and community colleges in the United States. The researchers identified three broad areas for partnership and stated, in summary:

The partnership between employers and community colleges is currently not fit for the purpose of creating America's workforce. The depth of the collaboration is inadequate to meet America's needs to equip aspiring workers to fill tomorrow's critical middle-skills jobs, nor to address the widespread decline in living standards affecting too many citizens without college degrees. A failure to address the threat to America’s skills base represents a genuine threat to the nation's competitiveness and, ultimately, the standard of living of its people. (Fuller & Raman, 2022, p. 6)

The HBR report (Fuller & Raman, 2022) cites three goals for community colleges and employers to remedy the current skills gap:

Recognizing the critical nature of this assessment, Sinclair Community College shifted what manufacturing education looks like. By capturing efficiencies inherent in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies, the college is addressing the disconnect between the workforce and academics. With support from an Air Force contract, Sinclair’s Workforce Development department partnered with the college’s academic departments and local manufacturing companies to define and develop fit-for-purpose training and education packages. The project team at Sinclair is focused on K-12 outreach, academic and nonacademic curriculum, and workforce awareness and adoption to meet the manufacturing needs in the region. The Digital Thread Initiative (DTI) is a 33-month Department of Defense (DoD) contract administered by DoD contractor, ARCTOS. The Sinclair team behind the contract is comprised of two full-time staff members, the Director of Workforce Development, faculty from multiple disciplines, and an external advisory board of representatives from industry.

Defining the Digital Thread

The naming of the initiative was purposeful, using a term that was founded by the Air Force Research Laboratory in 2007 to represent data flowing through multiple disciplines. According to the Air Force (Alia-Novobilski, 2017), the digital thread “is a technological framework that helps organize data across the lifespan of a product--from initial design to manufacturing, operation and maintenance--interconnecting data, modeling and analysis to enable better decisions at all product life stages” (para. 3). It enables Industry 4.0 as a key part of the overall effort to modernize manufacturing. The DTI team has been intentional in their efforts to involve stakeholders from academia, industry, and government to realize the benefits of using and supporting a digital thread in both academic curriculum and workforce training.

Academic Partnerships

From the beginning of the contract proposal, the DTI pulled in partners from all areas of Sinclair. Within the institution, faculty from the Science, Math, and Engineering and the Business and Public Services divisions are directly engaged. Deans from both divisions, chairs from four departments, and additional faculty and staff all provide support, for a total of almost 30 members of Sinclair faculty and staff from 12 different departments. This diverse team includes representation from academic departments Mechanical Engineering Technology, Computer-Aided Machining, Computer and Information Science, Electronics Engineering Technology, Management, Supply Chain, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), and administrative departments of Accounting, Facilities, Information Technology, with Workforce Development serving as the key coordinating entity. The entire team meets quarterly, with smaller, more focused group meetings for curriculum development, industry engagement, and resource management. This regular contact has led to a breakdown of the traditional silos that plague higher education and allowed collaborative, multi-discipline curriculum to develop. A highlight of the collaboration is the new short-term technical certificate in digital thread, which will be made up of five courses from the four departments contributing to the certificate. These courses, including manufacturing, supply chain logistics, and data security, among others, will be developed in concert with UAS, using drones to incorporate hands-on learning and showcase the digital thread.

Externally, Sinclair has leveraged relationships with academic partners locally, statewide, and nationally. The college has consulted with Dayton-area schools to establish the strengths of the region in attracting and retaining a strong workforce and coordinating a cohesive response to workforce demands. Closely tied to the DTI are two other community colleges in Ohio with complementary aspects to the digital thread: Lorain County Community College (LCCC), focused on automation and robotics, and Clark State Community College, focused on laser materials processing. The OhioTechNet consortium, established by LCCC, is a model for Sinclair and other partners to build lasting and effective relationships with industry.

Industry and Government Partnerships

Key to the initial ideation and success of the DTI is widespread support from industries across the country, which drive the decision making and ultimate programming at Sinclair. The DTI team has enjoyed great collaboration from these partners, engaging in monthly meetings to invite feedback on curriculum, pilot projects, and workforce training initiatives. In addition to the 21-member external advisory board, the DTI team has forged partnerships with government entities. Sinclair is located a few miles from Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and as a government-sponsored contract, the DTI has created allies by opening pathways and holding conversations with base partners, including hosting a local conference—the Dayton Digital Summit—held in August 2022 and planned for May 2023.

Local Dayton management consulting and technology solutions firm JJR Solutions is one such partner. CEO David Judson, Jr. (personal communication, January 9, 2023) shares the HBR concern for the workforce skills gap:

Having served in the U.S. Air Force for 21 years and traveled all around the country, I have found the Dayton community to be absolutely unique in its collaboration between its government, academia, and private industry organizations. Sinclair Community College has always been a central leader in that collaboration. They are once again leading the way by positioning our community to address and solve the chronic workforce development skill gaps noted in the HBR article. This is not just about the workforce of tomorrow or the future; it is about the workforce we need today to remain competitive on the global stage.

To further relationship building, the DTI team has established a podcast/workshop series—the Digital Tapestry Series. The podcast releases a new episode the first Wednesday of each month in which hosts interview an industry subject-matter expert on a digital thread-related topic. A workshop is scheduled for the second Wednesday of every month, with an expert facilitator presenting an in-depth workshop on the same subject. Areas of interest include digital and data literacy, cybersecurity, and continuous improvement. The series has offered a way to communicate the advances in Industry 4.0 that are critical to capture in the programming at Sinclair.

Future Focus

As relationships continue to develop, Sinclair and the DTI team remain committed to developing programs that are needed for the jobs of tomorrow. While the future is impossible to predict, our efforts to establish academic and nonacademic course offerings, vetted and bolstered by successful industry partnerships, adhere to a foundational part of Sinclair’s motto: “Find the need and endeavor to meet it.”

Click here to learn more about the Digital Thread Initiative and the Digital Tapestry Series.

References

Alia-Novobilski, M. (2017, February 17). Digital thread laces decision-making, data for Air Force acquisition. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. https://www.wpafb.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1087681/digital-thread-laces-decision-making-data-for-air-force-acquisition

Fuller, J., & Raman, M. (2022). The partnership imperative: Community colleges, employers, and America’s chronic skills gap. Harvard Business School. https://www.hbs.edu/managing-the-future-of-work/research/Pages/communtity-college-report.aspx

Elizabeth Generas is a Program Manager at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

Opinions expressed in Member Spotlight are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.