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14 SMT007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2020 manufacturing capabilities within the local area. We saw an article in Forbes Magazine from around 2017 that called the Midwest the new Silicon Valley of the U.S. Overall, manu- facturing is coming back to the U.S. strong. We're in the Rust Belt, so we're very interested in getting folks within the area. But we've had companies from as far away as Florida that want more manufacturing of their prod- ucts done in the U.S., and they want people trained to be able to do that. That same com- pany said, "Pass our job descriptions to your students. It would be great if they could move down here." The big manufacturing necessity is making products to fight COVID-19. An excellent exam- ple of this is an EMS company in LaGrange. They have about 100 employees who can man- ufacture products with their biomedical ISO 13485 certificate. When COVID-19 hit, they received a contract order to make portable ventilators, which were desperately needed in hospitals. They considered building a new line, they hired more people in, and they're produc- ing things on additional shifts as well. Their manufacturing is strong for them, making products to fight COVID-19. I couldn't agree more with how manufacturing has increased in the area. And who's helping this company make these products? LCCC MEMS students, a degree that this company, and many more companies helped tailor so that they could get their workforce pipeline filled. The other side is different. We tell students that this isn't a dirty factory position. If you go into some of these factories, they're gorgeous. You might have to wear clothes that protect from static discharge and ESD, but it's clean and amazing. Students see videos of these fac- tories, and their jaws are wide open, and their eyes brighten up. They say, "That's not how the factory looked that I'd pictured." Factory manufacturing is different from electronics manufacturing. It's becoming more and more appealing the more that we show it. Feinberg: I totally agree with you. At a recent virtual technical conference I attended, they toured a PCB facility, and I was just totally amazed. When I started, we had to figure out how to manufacture. There weren't many resources to document the industry we were creating. Now, those people have exited the industry or are about to. Vanderford: There is a gap there. Some have called it the "silver tsunami." Everyone with decades of tribal knowledge, skill sets, and experience at a prosperous company in man- ufacturing is getting ready to retire. When a company has this happen to them, they can pull from one of two places: a traditional uni- versity or off the streets. With someone who has gone to a traditional university, they may not necessarily have hands-on skills, and they may require addi- tional training, but at least they have a degree. However, they may ask for additional funding because they have an expensive degree. Meanwhile, people who are green off the street have no training or background experience, but they can get hired for less money. However, they require so much training that some of the com- panies can't keep up. Some of this training and application takes six months to a year of pro- duction time and product. Ten people might get hired, and one year later, only one employee might remain as a viable worker. For many com- panies, especially smaller ones, that's completely unacceptable in terms of what they need for com- petent technical staff. They want people who are better trained and able to do manufacturing. Johnny Vanderford, assistant professor and MEMS program coordinator, demonstrates manufacturing processes in the lab.