Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1531663
68 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2025 actively being developed in middle school, high school, and higher education, will (even- tually) help us fill the ever-widening workforce gap we face in electronics manufacturing. Marcy LaRont: Mike, tell me about yourself and your background. Mike Nager: I've always worked in the indus- trial B2B workplace, usually for manufactur- ers, and specifically with industrial controls: devices, apparatus, and sometimes machines that go into every type of manufacturing oper- ation regardless of industry. As a sales and marketing professional, I was on the customer-facing side of the busi- ness. Over the course of 25 years, I saw many things being made, which inspired me to write books that share a vision for those with little to no experience in manufacturing of what's happening inside all types of manufacturing facilities. Where are you currently working? For the past 10 years, I've been working for Festo Didactic. It's German-owned. I work in the U.S. with North American responsi- bility for a product we refer to as a "Learn- ing Factory." Our purpose is to help educa- tors—whether at the university or high school level—put in the right hardware, lab equip- ment, certifications, and curriculum so stu- dents can get hands-on experience in engi- neering technician fields. We work with many educational institutions over the course of a week. ey oen will have an idea about a key industry in which they are interested, such as semiconductor manufacturing. How can they put a lab or Learning Factory into their school so that an industrial engineering technician or student can get hands-on experience with the exact equipment they will face in that indus- try? ese holistic labs help reduce on-the-job training required by the employer and serve to get students and their parents excited. When they go into a lab and see working robots, CNC machines, or a whole miniature factory inside the classroom, it makes a much bigger impression. Are you working mostly with universities? Most of the time I work with technical schools and community colleges, but I'm getting more requests from both high schools and universi- ties. ey want to help students make a smoother transition into either a two- or four-year degree program. Many universities have been under fire in recent years to show the ROI of a university degree. ey still have an ivory tower reputa- tion, concentrating on the theoretical aspects of learning with a less practical, hands-on emphasis. For various reasons, every year for the past four years, the percentage of high schools and univer- sities reaching out to us has increased. That's good to hear. The key is to help students learn early on whether a career in manufacturing is right for them. When I was in school, the traditional model was to have a senior project. If you got to that project and discovered you didn't like what you were doing, it was too bad; you were nearly done with your degree. So, the trend is to get younger students to do substantive projects earlier. It is not uncommon now for freshmen and sopho- mores to get internships and become involved in research papers. I have seen first- and second-