Indiana's scalable model for closing the manufacturing talent gap

Some 78 million new jobs will be created globally in the next five years, according to the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2025. In the US manufacturing sector alone, there could be as many as 3.8 million new employees needed by 2033, yet nearly half of these roles are at risk going unfilled if manufacturers don’t improve the attractiveness of the sector and address skill gaps.

A significant constraint for industry is the availability of talent, with skills gaps and talent attraction identified as the top two obstacles to industry transformation. The Forum’s 2025 jobs report states that about 40% of the core skills in the manufacturing and supply chain sectors will change in the next 3-5 years and, as a result, more than 54% of incumbent workers will need additional training by 2030.

The core skills of increasing importance in manufacturing are a combination of technology-focused skills including AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity, technology literacy and human-centric skills such as problem-solving, creative thinking, and resilience, flexibility and agility.

Along with these workforce trends, another critical driver of change in the sector is changing demographics, including a shrinking working age population and the looming retirements of Baby Boomers still employed on the shopfloor. The urgent need to find replacement talent and to upskill or reskill current employees is the impetus for many manufacturing employers shifting from “reactive” consumers of talent to “co-producers” of talent within workforce ecosystems.

Manufacturing leaders are seeking innovative approaches to boost their talent pipeline, modernize training models and enhance workplace incentives to attract young people into manufacturing jobs. One organization that is at the forefront of preparing young people for tomorrow’s manufacturing sector is the US state of Indiana’s Ivy Tech Community College.

With 19 campuses serving more than 200,000 students across the state and online, Ivy Tech is Indiana’s largest post-secondary institution and the nation’s largest singly accredited state-wide community college system. More than 98,000 Ivy Tech students are earning college credits and credentials while in high school through the college’s dual credit and dual enrollment programmes. In the 2023-2024 academic year, more than 7,200 Indiana high schoolers earned over 9,200 college credentials through Ivy Tech before receiving their high school diploma; nearly two in three credentials were in the career and technical education (CTE) fields.

Through partnerships with more than 450 high schools and career centres across Indiana, Ivy Tech offers 100 courses – free of charge for students and families – that include industry-recognized certifications built into the course. These workforce aligned certifications ensure Ivy Tech is teaching the knowledge, skills, and competencies employers value. Twenty of these courses are clustered in the advanced manufacturing sector, where completers earn certifications recognized by national industry associations such as the American Welding Society (AWS), National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), and the Smart Automation Certification Alliance (SACA).

Indiana, the US's most manufacturing intensive state, with advanced manufacturing accounting for nearly 30% of the state’s GDP, is focused on positioning high school students are positioned well for the jobs of the future in the sector. The credentials and industry certifications that these students earn align to the skills manufacturers have identified as critical, such as automation, industrial internet of things and data analytics.

Anticipating the industry trend toward automation and the evolution of the required technician skill set, Ivy Tech created a statewide advisory board dedicated to Industry 4.0 and launched the first Smart Manufacturing and Digital Integration (SMDI) programme in the US in 2021, which was designed to prepare students for careers in advanced manufacturing by integrating cutting-edge automation, robotics and data analytics. The statewide stackable degree curriculum offered at more than half of Ivy Tech’s campuses in response to industry demand, focuses on equipping students with skills in cyber-physical systems, industrial IoT, artificial intelligence, and data-driven decision-making.

Through the SMDI initiative, students earn an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree and technical certificates embedded with industry-recognized credentials such as Siemens, Fuji Automatic Numerical Control (FANUC), and Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) certifications.

Ivy Tech certificates are backward-designed in collaboration with Indiana employers to ensure students graduate with the knowledge, skills and abilities they need to qualify for entry level roles. Ivy Tech’s degree pathways also include quality work-based learning opportunities designed by Ivy Tech’s Career Link departments on each campus, faculty and an employer’s hiring manager. These opportunities provide students with an applied understanding of the concepts and skills they are learning in the classroom and laboratory. This programme is available to every Ivy Tech campus and aligned to local industry needs.

One example of this proven approach at work is the college’s partnership with StarPlus Energy, a joint venture of Stellantis and Samsung SDI that is investing approximately $6.3 billion to construct two electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing plants in Kokomo, Indiana.

This significant investment is expected to create nearly 3,000 jobs jobs within the plants, with additional employment opportunities with parts suppliers. To prepare the regional workforce to meet StarPlus’s talent needs, Ivy Tech’s Kokomo campus engaged the employer in its Integrated Training and Education Pathways (ITEP) initiative, a programme that exposes students to:

Through the ITEP programme, local high school seniors secured industry placements at StarPlus Energy, where they received on-the-job training and career coaching services while earning college credits through Ivy Tech’s work-based learning scheme. The programme set up a direct talent pipeline between Ivy Tech and StarPlus Energy, enabling students to transition into skilled entry-level, full-time employment or apprenticeships after high school graduation.

Programmes such as ITEP will become increasingly critical to meeting the talent needs of Indiana’s advanced manufacturing sector, as recent research conducted by TEConomy Partners in collaboration with Ivy Tech revealed that 69% of projected job openings in Indiana’s key industries over the next decade will require education beyond high school.

This study, which leveraged the Future of Jobs data as well as specific Indiana job posting data, details that the state will need to upskill or reskill 82,000 ‘Hoosiers’ (state citizens) annually over the next 10 years to backfill retirements and qualify individuals for critical roles. Required training can take many forms, including non-degree credentials, licences, micro credentials or third-party certifications. And while it is estimated that less than 5% of Indiana’s employers are leveraging skills based hiring practices, the demand for non-degree credentials is expected to grow four times faster than traditional degrees.

Ivy Tech’s statewide scale allows for replication of programmes from one campus to another, as Indiana’s economy evolves. Ivy Tech has plans to replicate Kokomo’s SMDI programme, associated K12 (kindergarten to grade 12) pathways and work-based learning offerings at its South Bend campus in response to the need of GM/Samsung’s facility planned for New Carlisle, Indiana.

To further ensure alignment between a job seeker's skill set and hard-to-fill roles, and to accelerate the adoption of skills-based hiring, actionable data on non-degree credential outcomes is essential.

CredLens, a national data trust for third-party certifications, offers a transparent and data-driven approach to workforce decision-making. By analyzing employment rates, salary outcomes and educational outcomes including credential stacking, CredLens provides policy-makers and education providers with insights into which credentials drive economic mobility.

These insights enable students to make informed choices that align their education with industry needs and invest in credentials that deliver strong economic returns. For employers, it fosters greater confidence in hiring credentialed workers, ultimately strengthening workforce pipelines and economic resilience.

For students, this data trust enables informed decision-making — aligning educational choices with industry needs. For employers, it fosters greater confidence in hiring credentialed workers, strengthening workforce pipelines and economic resilience.

The future of advanced manufacturing depends on a coordinated effort between industry, education and policy-makers. Ivy Tech’s scalable workforce development model, employer-aligned curriculum and emphasis on credential transparency offer a replicable blueprint for states and institutions seeking to bridge skills gaps.

To sustain this momentum, a coalition of states must align on workforce skilling initiatives and credentialing opportunities. By leveraging data, fostering industry-education partnerships and embracing skills-based hiring, we can collectively build a workforce equipped for the future of advanced manufacturing.