Board 123: Data Analytics Short Courses for Reskilling and Upskilling Indiana's Manufacturing Workforce

Abstract

The power of ML and AI has not been fully realized in the manufacturing sector. One of the major challenges is that the small and medium manufacturers, which account for 98% of the industry, lack the dedicated data analytic workforce. In Indiana, to address this need, partnerships have been established between industry and academia through Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (WHIN) at Purdue University. In collaboration with Ivy Tech Community College, a series of workshops were developed to introduce data analytics, the internet of things, and basic machine learning concepts to local small and large manufacturing companies. This study will describe the first of three short courses geared toward industry workers and professionals. The first short course was on the topic of energy savings and data analytics for Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs). The attendees consisted of 44 participants from 17 manufacturing companies. A final evaluation of the course reports on participants' levels of satisfaction with the course, the major learnings and takeaways, and their institutional support. The evaluation results indicate that the course was a good introduction to VFDs and the large number of applications where VFD data can be used for energy savings, diagnostics, and operations. However, workshop participants wanted more hands-on opportunities to see how the VFD data can be extracted for new motors and many legacy equipment still in use and how various settings can be adjusted.