BIC Manufacturing Academy
The BIC Manufacturing Academy is an industry-led training collaborative designed to address persistent challenges facing the manufacturing economy in the Berkshire region by closing the gap between local supply chain capabilities and the needs of larger manufacturers through ongoing education, training, and technology assistance.
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This initiative is designed to foster growth in the regional advanced manufacturing sector, and was developed in partnership with MIT, General Dynamics, Mass Tech Collaborative, the US Department of Commerce, and with support of local and state matching funds. The launch of the BMA is a historical marker signaling the BIC's devotion to being an in-service learning provider to its members and affiliates.
BIC Manufacturing Academy
in the Press
Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders
by Ben Sosne and
Dr. Dennis Rebelo
Berkshire Business Journal
May 2023
New Technology Skills Approach
by John Townes
Berkshire Business Journal
November 2022
Where Collaboration
and Collective
Wisdom Meet
by Ben Armstrong and Ben Sosne
Berkshire Business Journal
September 2022
Program Description
The BIC Manufacturing Academy supports the growth and development of the future leaders of our firms, and helps these firms explore new technological solutions, through a comprehensive core training program as well as a curated series of technology workshops. The core training program was developed after countless hours of interviews, meetings and learning from a diverse range of industry partners. It is called Systems Thinking for the Application of Technologies, or STAT. The STAT program answers two key industry needs: developing employee troubleshooting and systems thinking and enhancing human skills. It is a cornerstone to our work. The STAT Program is a dynamic 24-week initiative that is broken into three distinct phases. Each phase is six weeks long, with remote learning breaks scheduled between them.
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Phase 1
The first phase focuses on the principles of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) as a framing tool that illustrates and engages students in ways to enhance their troubleshooting and their problem-solving skills to more effectively approach any problem, from fixing a coffee machine to something far more complex. It is an interactive seminar with a lot of thoughtful exchange, really prompting students to think about their own lives and their work roles.
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Phase 2
​In the second phase, the students apply the framing tools that they learned from the first phase. This will include both a hands-on learning component and a computer simulation. The hands-on learning will involve studying and interacting with a micro-manufacturing wind turbine plant located within the BIC which will serve as a testing ground to practice problem-based learning. Through varied problems, students will understand measurement, process mapping, and other tools that hang off the DMAIC framework. Complementing the hands-on learning will be a digital twin, a computer simulation that will allow students to tweak the types of technology that could be deployed in a production line as the process is “leaned out,” controlled, improved, and sustained.
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Phase 3
In the third and final phase of the program, students will move from this micro-manufacturing simulation and rethink where they sit within their roles, their group, and their firm and begin to formulate a way to “make their learning count” in their companies. With support from a supervisor in their firm, the students will identify a real-life problem, or opportunity, that they can troubleshoot, and problem solve. Here is where they will be paired with coaches to apply the DMAIC framework to assess actual “pain points” within their firms and propose solutions that will make their firms more productive, efficient, and competitive.