ST. LOUIS - The building blocks of manufacturing are resting more and more on artificial intelligence and smart devices.
However, concerns of the manpower to design and run these systems still remains.
The University of Missouri is trying help create more manpower by using a $1 million grant from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development to create a hands-on learning experiences for future engineers.
Dr. Jim Noble, University of Missouri Professor and Chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, says technology has changed manufacturing over the last decade.
"We have to keep the technology going, because it doesn't stop," said Noble.
Noble says that industries like aviation, automotive and the computer-world industries have seen a greater integration of new ideas, while some industries like those in lower-tech has been lagging slowly, but still growing.
Noble says that some of the things Mizzou will try to do to better situate the future engineers is to create a lab that can easily adapt and evolve with some of the current technology, but very easy to add on too.
"We hoping we don't create something that will become a dinosaur in 10 years," said Noble, "What were hoping to do is to give the skills to the next generation of engineers while giving additional certification for the current professionals to keep their skills up to date."
Most of the money from the grant gifted to Mizzou's engineering department will be used to buy equipment for the lab and help improve courseworks.
Noble says the new technology can help the state of Missouri not worry about concerns of falling behind in the next five years.
"Things are moving forward," Noble said, "We're at the point right now where we are not behind, but in the five years, if we don't have the ability across the state, we'll start to fall behind. The speed in which things are moving keeps increasing."