New program trains Tennessee high school students for high-paying jobs building cars of the future

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The car industry is facing big changes: longtime workers are retiring, younger workers are not going into the industry, and the technology is shifting to robotics. But, a new program that launched this month in Tennessee is looking to high schools to find the next generation of car makers.

The Nissan plant in Franklin County opened in 1997, but making cars in 2024 looks a little different.

“Manufacturing isn’t what it was 20, 30 years ago,” said Matthew Overbay, Director of Manufacturing, Strategy and Planning at Nissan North America.

Overbay said that today’s assembly floor is very much based on computers and robotics.

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“Now, it’s not the individual shooting a bolt, it’s the individual maintaining a robot, making sure that it’s running properly, and being able to diagnose any of the issues that might come from the manufacturing process,” said Overbay.

Enter a whole new type of education. They are called the Centers of Excellence. These are high school programs launched for the very first time this month in four Tennessee school districts – Franklin, Grundy, Tullahoma, and Warren County.

From safety, measuring, automation, and coding, students are earning accreditations to one day work on a car assembly floor of the future while they are still in high school.

“You will go from English, math, history, whatever it might be over into this classroom where you’ll sit and it does have the tools, equipment, and instructors most importantly that will be able to support your growth in the overall advance manufacturing train,” said Overbay. “It is very laser-focused on advanced manufacturing.”

And who will be teaching these students? They were very carefully chosen current Nissan workers with years of experience building cars.

“That was a key piece of the overall Centers of Excellence, making sure that we can put our Nissan technicians into those classrooms to support the growth of those students,” said Overbay.

The hand-picked teachers spent their summer working with Eric Oslund’s education department at MTSU learning how to be teachers.

“To have an outside company as big as Nissan approach us and ask us to train their employees to be teachers was a first,” said Oslund, professor and chair of Elementary and Special Education at MTSU.

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“They absolutely chose great people, and they will be difference makers. MTSU is proud to make difference makers and I have no doubt that they will be successful,” said Oslund.

And if they are, these Centers of Excellence could be a model for training Tennessee’s workforce statewide.

It took several groups to create these Centers of Excellence – Nissan, MTSU, the Board of Regents, the high schools, and TCAT programs.

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