TSTC prepares students to support sustainable manufacturing

(RED OAK, Texas) – Listed by Forbes as one of the top five manufacturing trends in 2023, sustainable manufacturing has been on the rise for years. The need for training related to the trend has not gone unnoticed by Texas State Technical College.

Jimmy Carter, a representative from semiconductor manufacturing company Texas Instruments, recently gave insight into what sustainable manufacturing is and how it applies to the company.

“At Texas Instruments, sustainable manufacturing is the ability to produce products economically with high-quality processes that minimize negative environmental impacts while conserving energy and natural resources,” he said. 

Sustainable manufacturing is a holistic approach that touches every aspect of the process, and there are certain skills and knowledge that employees must have for a position in sustainable manufacturing. 

“TSTC students are prepared to take on these roles in sustainable maintenance,” Leslie Monk, instructor for TSTC’s North Texas campus’ Industrial Systems program, said. “In Industrial Systems, their coursework includes energy management, lean manufacturing maintenance, and green manufacturing maintenance processes.”

In these courses, students learn how to monitor energy levels, calculate motor efficiency and explain its importance, perform power factor correction, and much more. 

This training and knowledge is becoming increasingly more important as more companies make the transition to sustainable manufacturing.

Carter said Texas Instruments’ involvement in sustainable manufacturing even reaches beyond its own factories.

“We engineer, manufacture, test and sell analog and embedded semiconductor chips,” he said. “Our customers, who are companies in every market, continue to add more electronics to make their products smarter, safer, more connected and energy efficient.”

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has remarked on the reach of sustainable manufacturing beyond the benefits to the environment.

“Sustainable manufacturing also enhances employee, community and product safety,” the EPA stated.

Carter commented on how this applied to Texas Instruments.

“We can give products to the market and show, through this process, that as a company we care about energy, the environment, and (that) the design of our facilities will be cohesive with our employees, the community and the business process,” he said. 

“A growing number of companies are treating ‘sustainability’ as an important objective in their strategy and operations to increase growth and global competitiveness,” the EPA reported. “This trend has reached well beyond the small niche of those who traditionally positioned themselves as ‘green’ and now includes many prominent businesses across many different industry sectors.”

Registration for TSTC’s spring semester is underway. For more information, go to tstc.edu.