HFC teams up with LIFT for “Operation Next”

HFC has partnered with LIFT, a national manufacturing institute supported by the Department of Defense and headquartered in Detroit. The partnership will promote the “Operation Next” program. “Operation Next” will provide advanced manufacturing training opportunities for people to earn industry-recognized, nationally portable credentials for the next step in their careers.

This is an innovative, self-paced, manufacturing-focused training and credentialing program that blends hands-on learning with virtual learning. It is available to employees of small and medium-sized manufacturers in the Metro Detroit area, as well as displaced workers, in an effort to help them recover from the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also open to active and reserve members of the Michigan National Guard, and civilians in the Metro Detroit area.

Through funding provided to LIFT through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, awarded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a grant from the DoD Manufacturing Engineering Education Program, training will be provided at no cost to the individual or the employer.

Moving the needle in educating the manufacturing workforce of the future

HFC will serve as a performance-based training provider that offer hands-on training for the Industrial Technology Maintenance and Robotics Technician majors in “Operation Next.” Performance-based training for welding and CNC machining majors will be at the LIFT Learning Lab in Detroit. Both ITM and Robotics Technicians are some of the most in-demand advanced manufacturing jobs in the nation with an anticipated 40,000 combined job openings annually over the next eight years.

“Henry Ford College is in the center of Michigan’s manufacturing sector, and we are proud to join with LIFT and ‘Operation Next’ in connecting students to advanced manufacturing careers,” said Dr. Patricia Chatman, Dean of the HFC School of Business, Entrepreneurship, and Professional Development (BEPD).

“Operation Next continues to expand across the region and across the nation due in part to partnerships like this,” said Nigel Francis, CEO and Executive Director of LIFT. “The national manufacturing innovation institutes and community colleges play critical roles in educating the manufacturing workforce of the future, and we are proud to partner with (HFC) and move the needle here in southeast Michigan.”

For questions or more information about “Operation Next,” contact communications@lift.technology.