Manufacturing Skill Standards Council issues 2015 Edition of National Standards

MSSC released today its national skill standards for front-line work in advanced manufacturing and logistics. According to MSSC CEO Leo Reddy, “This new edition continues MSSC’s national leadership role for the past fourteen years in defining and updating these skills. They are the gold standard:  the nation’s authoritative reference and common language for companies and schools to use in defining industry skill needs.”

In 2001, the federal National Skill Standards Board officially endorsed the first-ever set of skill standards developed and nationally validated by the industry-led, non-profit MSSC for front-line production work in high-performance, advanced manufacturing.  These original standards involved hundreds of companies, over 4,000 workers, and unions at an investment of $9 million in federal and matching industry funds.

MSSC has used these national Production Standards and subsequent national Logistics Standards for front-line material handling and distribution work as the substantive basis for two nationwide training and certification programs:  Certified Production Technician (CPT) and Certified Logistics Technician (CLT).

The Production Standards are organized into the four critical work functions of manufacturing:  Safety; Quality Practices & Measurement; Manufacturing Processes & Production; and Maintenance Awareness. They embed a range of technologies now in common use such as Computer Numerically Controls (CNC), Statistical Process Controls (SPC), Six Sigma, Industrial Robotics, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Lean Processes, Sensors, and Lasers.

MSSC uses industry subject matter experts to update its Standards annually to ensure that they continue to keep pace with technological change. Some of the updates over the years included:  Metric Conversion; Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) for a wide range of production systems (e.g., electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, machine automation); and a Green Production Module.

The 2015 Edition of the Production Standards embed newly emerging production technologies such as 3-D Printing (Additive Manufacturing), Internet of Things, Mechatronics, Advanced Materials, Mass Customization, Mobile Internet, Nano-manufacturing, and Next Generation Robotics. They also include the new Global Hazmat System (GHS) and align the CPT Safety module with OSHA-10 credentialing.

The 2015 Edition of the Logistics Standards expands skills requirements for various types of material handling equipment such as loading dock, test, and overhead equipment. These Standards also embed emerging technologies that will impact supply chain operations such as omni-channel distribution, real-time tracking of products and packages, same-day and real-time location delivery.

Both 2015 Production and Logistics Standards are available for free upon request from the MSSC website at http://www.msscusa.org/certification/mssc-2015-standards/.