By Maritime Industrial Base Program
BLACKSBURG, Va. — The US Navy’s top maritime industrial base official emphasized partnership with Virginia Tech faculty and defense industry leaders this week as part of a broader effort to grow the skilled workforce required to sustain the fleet.
“The Navy cannot meet the demands of tomorrow’s fleet alone,” said Matthew Sermon, Direct Reporting Program Manager for the Maritime Industrial Base (MIB) Program. “We need partners at every level of education, including K–12, community colleges, and universities, together with industry and communities. Building the next generation of skilled manufacturing talent is not optional. It is essential to America’s security.”
Sermon’s keynote opened the Future Manufacturing Workforce Workshop, part of a three-day event at Virginia Tech focused on advanced manufacturing. The gathering drew leaders in engineering, government, academia, and defense to address one of the nation’s most pressing challenges: preparing a workforce capable of sustaining shipbuilding and defense production for decades to come.
The Navy’s Mission
The MIB Program was created to expand and modernize the nation’s shipbuilding capacity. Its work spans workforce development, supplier growth, and advanced manufacturing, three mission areas that together ensure the Navy can build and maintain the fleet the nation needs.
Sermon told the audience that this is not a distant challenge. By 2028, the maritime industrial base must deliver one Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine and two Virginia-class attack submarines every year, while also sustaining the current fleet and building more than ten classes of surface ships.
“That demand translates directly into people,” Sermon said. “We need 250,000 skilled workers across the maritime industrial base over the next decade. Welders, machinists, engineers, robotics specialists, the list goes on. Every one of those roles contributes to keeping America secure.”
Why Advanced Manufacturing Matters
A consistent theme in Sermon’s remarks was the role of advanced manufacturing in meeting these needs. He described how technologies such as additive manufacturing, robotics, and artificial intelligence are not only speeding up production but also transforming what is possible.
“The technologies we’re implementing today will define the next 50 years of shipbuilding,” he said. “But technology alone cannot solve our challenge. Without people who know how to use it, improve it, and pass that knowledge on, we cannot succeed.”
Virginia Tech provided a fitting backdrop for that message. The university is leading research across additive manufacturing, advanced materials, and intelligent manufacturing. Through its “Manufacturing Spine” concept, Virginia Tech integrates hands-on experience into every engineering discipline, ensuring all graduates understand the process of making.
“What excites me about Virginia Tech is that you’re showing students manufacturing is not a side subject,” Sermon said. “Whether they go into aerospace, naval architecture, or material science, they learn how ideas become reality. That integrated approach is exactly what the maritime industrial base needs.”
A Workshop Designed for Action
Unlike a traditional conference, the Future Manufacturing Workforce Workshop was built around participation. Industry and federal leaders joined faculty to define today’s workforce needs, identify gaps, and forecast the competencies future engineers will require.
The outcome will be a white paper with recommendations to shape curricula, guide training programs, and keep academic institutions aligned with industry needs.
“These events bring together industry, federal, and academic thought leaders to collaboratively shape the future of manufacturing — from emerging technologies to the skilled workforce needed to support them,” said Christopher Williams, the L.S. Randolph Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the workshop’s lead. “It’s an opportunity to align Virginia Tech’s strengths with real-world challenges and future needs.”
Attendees also toured the university’s research facilities, including Williams’ DREAMS Lab, which pioneers additive manufacturing design and implementation, and the Future Manufacturing Lab, which explores robotics and artificial intelligence applications.
Lessons from the Field
Sermon pointed to the Navy’s own integration of training and production as a model. In Danville, Virginia, the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) program sits next door to the Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence. Students there learn on the same equipment producing real components for submarines and surface ships.
“That proximity means speed to skill and speed to fleet,” Sermon said. “We need to replicate that model. Students training on the tools that industry and the Navy actually use creates confidence, competence, and connection to the mission.”
He emphasized that the Navy is not asking universities to become trade schools. Instead, the goal is to prepare engineers who can think critically, innovate across disciplines, and understand how their ideas are implemented in real-world production environments.
“We’re not just filling jobs,” he said. “We’re inspiring careers that will carry this mission forward for decades. That is how we sustain this effort.”
Building a Culture of Partnership
For Sermon, the workshop was about more than curriculum or research. It was about building a culture of collaboration.
“For too long there has been a gap between what universities teach and what industry requires,” he said. “Events like this help us close that gap. When we work together, we create solutions faster and prepare students better. That partnership is how we ensure America’s maritime strength.”
The Future Manufacturing Workforce Workshop concluded with a call to action: continue the dialogue, implement recommendations, and expand collaboration. For participants, the event underscored that the future of manufacturing, and America’s defense, will be shaped as much in classrooms and laboratories as on the shipyard floor.
As Sermon reminded the audience, the stakes are high.
“We are not just building submarines and ships,” he said. “We are building the future of American manufacturing, and every person in this room has a role to play.”
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.23.2025 08:23 |
| Story ID: | 549031 |
| Location: | BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 182 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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