New Materials/New Skills for Automotive Skilled Trades

Full Description:

CAR has completed research on the impact of new materials on skilled trades training and apprenticeship needs.  Designing, analyzing, and building automotive tools, dies, molds, jigs, and fixtures to form the wide array of new and advanced materials being deployed in current and future vehicles are changing skill needs not only for incumbent workers, but also for the future workforce.  CAR’s research included cataloging the major skills needed by the automotive industry, identifying skills gaps, and assessing how smaller companies and suppliers can work to address these gaps either on their own, through industry consortia, and/or in conjunction with equipment vendors and educational partners.

This report focuses on the impact of automotive lightweighting solutions involving new designs with lightweight materials and advanced forming and joining processes on training received by current skilled trades workers and industrial maintenance associates, as well as curriculum development for apprenticeships.

This research was conducted with support of a grant from the Arconic Foundation and was first released at the CAR T3 Manufacturing Summit.