You now can get an apprenticeship in additive manufacturing, certified by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The apprenticeship was announced by the Youngstown, Ohio-based America Makes (the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute) and the Robert C. Byrd Institute, in partnership with Tooling U-SME, the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers and Applied Systems & Technology Transfer and Applied Systems & Technology Transfer in Youngstown.
They said this is the first-ever, industry-vetted Additive Manufacturing Technician Registered Apprenticeship.
The announcement came during National Apprenticeship Week, held Nov. 12-18.
“The approval of the AM Technician Registered Apprenticeship by the Department of Labor is the accumulation of a great deal of work and learnings, many of which were leveraged directly from the America Makes Workforce and Education Roadmap,” said America Makes Executive Director Rob Gorham. “We are proud to have played an important role in this initiative to empower employers nationwide to develop and customize AM apprenticeships to create a much needed, highly skilled additive workforce.”
Josh Cramer, America Makes workforce and education director, called the federally recognized apprenticeship “a big step forward for the AM industry at large.”
“The AM innovations are out there,” Cramer said. “What's needed most is a skilled workforce to support the innovative work.”