Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS), a global leader in applied additive technology solutions, today rolled out a new industry certification program in North America – designed to more effectively bridge the skills gap it observes in the additive manufacturing industry. Engineered in conjunction with a consortium of top colleges and universities, the program aims to enable students to secure accelerated additive manufacturing credentials to improve employability and workforce readiness.

According to industry data, demand for certified additive manufacturing workers to fill industry vacancies will reach about 21 billion by end of this decade. Unfortunately, many candidates are unable to prove job-relevant skills leveraging consistent, industry-accepted benchmarks. The new Stratasys Additive Manufacturing Certification Program provides companies in manufacturing, design and medical industries with measurable qualifications to prove applicants are workforce-ready and immediately contribute to business success.

The program was developed alongside a consortium of leaders across education – including The Wentworth Institute of Technology, Dunwoody College of Technology, Iowa State University, UC Irvine and Milwaukee School of Engineering. In addition to addressing evolving requirements for skilled additive manufacturing workers, the education modules provide consistency of workforce readiness with an approved range of skill requirements.

“While demand for workers with additive manufacturing expertise continues to rise, there’s really no across-the-board standard to judge credentials. We’ve observed employers cannot always align job-specific readiness with additive manufacturing skills, therefore many workers fail to live up to expectations,” said Gina Scala, Director of Marketing, Global Education at Stratasys. “Backed by nearly 30 years in the industry and developed in conjunction with some of the most respected additive manufacturing educators– we believe our certification program is just what the industry needs to align the skills employers require and workers deliver.”

Educational institutions enrolled in the certification program have access to 40 contact hours of exam preparation content organized via module and accessible directly via Stratasys. Other resources for participating institutions include hands-on projects and labs, GrabCAD and InsightCAM software, module exams, instructor notes, and presentations. Enrolled students can tap into key technical resources guides, industry use cases, and software and preparation notes.

According to The Danfoss Group, a global producer of products and services used in cooling, air conditioning and heating – successful job applicants have proven, hands-on experience: “Here at Danfoss, we are implementing additive manufacturing using a variety of technologies in a wide variety of applications. We are looking for candidates who have a passion for AM as well as general understanding of all the technologies in additive manufacturing today,” said Kevin Ayers, Additive Design and Manufacturing Specialist at Danfoss. “It’s very important to recruit talent that have actual hands-on experience in running a 3D printer and processing parts.”

For more information – or to get involved in the new Stratasys Additive Manufacturing Certification Program – visit http://www.stratasys.com/education/edu-certification or contact edu.curriculum@stratasys.com.

Stratasys is a global leader in applied additive technology solutions for industries including Aerospace, Automotive, Healthcare, Consumer Products and Education. For nearly 30 years, a deep and ongoing focus on customers’ business requirements has fueled purposeful innovations — 1,200 granted and pending additive technology patents to date — that create new value across product lifecycle processes, from design prototypes to manufacturing tools and final production parts. The Stratasys 3D printing ecosystem of solutions and expertise — advanced materials; software with voxel level control; precise, repeatable and reliable FDM and PolyJet 3D printers; application-based expert services; on-demand parts and industry-defining partnerships — works to ensure seamless integration into each customer’s evolving workflow. Fulfilling the real-world potential of additive, Stratasys delivers breakthrough industry-specific applications that accelerate business processes, optimize value chains and drive business performance improvements for thousands of future-ready leaders. Corporate headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota and Rehovot, Israel. Online at: www.stratasys.com, http://blog.stratasys.com and LinkedIn.