Anyone familiar with the iFAB Tech Hub has undoubtedly heard about its mission to become the global leader in biomanufacturing, particularly precision fermentation.
This goal may sound lofty to those unfamiliar with the iFAB region in Central Illinois, which spans Champaign, Piatt, and Macon counties. The mission begins to make a lot of sense, however, once it’s made clear that the region is home to world-class biomanufacturing facilities (from pilot to commercial scale), educational institutions such as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and an abundance of feedstock like corn and soy (Illinois is the leading soybean-producing state, and second in corn-producing).
Built into the iFAB mission is another key objective: to support and positively impact the region’s workforce development. It’s estimated that by 2040, tens of thousands of new jobs will be created in the area as a direct result of the biomanufacturing industry’s growth.
New jobs are a great thing for the region, especially with people available to fill those positions. The question then becomes: do career seekers in these fields have the necessary skills?
“Manufacturers’ need for skills are changing rapidly, due to factors like automation and new tech,” says David Boulay, Ph.D., President of the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC).
And that’s where IMEC and its Career Pathways initiative comes in.
IMEC (which is a consortium member of the iFAB Tech Hub) is a team of improvement specialists working with small to midsize manufacturers in Illinois. They offer a wide array of solutions to bolster their clients’ businesses, transferring best practices to streamline projects, improve cyber security, reduce waste, retain talent, and more. In recent years IMEC has become the sponsor of 17 US Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeships to support upskilling our workforce
“Over three thousand four hundred Illinois manufacturers have worked with IMEC in the past year,” Boulay says. “Our job is to make sure they succeed.”
IMEC’s Career Pathways is yet another resource to ensure companies stay competitive. It’s designed to help them attract and retain employees by helping define the skills employees need to succeed and then developing training plans.
“Many small and mid-sized manufacturers do not have a full-time training manager,” Boulay points out. “When we provide skills clarity and training methods, it can help a company feel confident knowing they have the ability to train the right skills.”
But Boulay makes clear that this is not a “You train, I hire” situation.
“Career pathways happen within the company as much as they do in our communities,” he says. “Our approach is collaborative.” This means that IMEC specialists tease out a formal, functioning approach to skill clarification and training, and then share that approach with their clients. Companies can then utilize the approach throughout the entire employee journey, from recruiting, to onboarding, to upscaling skills as new needs develop.
These formal training methods come in handy when a company’s been relying solely on implicit intuitional knowledge, the undocumented skills and procedures that current team members have naturally developed over time. Without an organized way to pass on that knowledge, those in training positions may wonder how best to explain the job, and new team members may feel unsure about what’s expected of them.
With a formal training method provided by IMEC, onboarding new employees becomes a more seamless process, saving time and instilling confidence in both the trainers and trainees.
When it comes to new biomanufacturing jobs, such as the ones iFAB plans to see in the coming years, Boulay says that IMEC specialists are harnessing their talents to best understand the skills needed for the sector.
“iFAB is building and tightening an ecosystem that hasn’t before existed,” Boulay says.
The IMEC team is familiar with putting these kinds of puzzle pieces together, though. They’re paying close attention to the biotech industry and figuring out what the career pathway portfolio will look like.
A hub of resources can already be found on the newly launched Workforce pages on the iFAB website, created in partnership with IMEC. These pages include a Careers in Biomanufacturing inventory, which lists the top 10 emerging careers in biomanufacturing and the salary range, industry outlook, and skills needed for each one.
iFAB’s new Workforce pages also includes an Employer Resources section, with training matrices and competency frameworks. These serve as foundational tools to define and support new and emerging occupations by outlining the knowledge, skills, and abilities required across various roles within the field
As the iFAB Tech Hub continues to accelerate the region’s leadership in biomanufacturing, IMEC sees tremendous opportunity ahead.
“We’re at the front edge of something transformative,” says Boulay. “The growth of biotech in Central Illinois isn’t just about new technology. It’s about building a system where people, companies, and communities grow together through amazing careers. That’s the future we’re excited to help shape.”
Go to IMEC.org to learn more about IMEC and the many services they’re offering to manufacturing companies, educators, and jobseekers alike.
