NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The car industry is going through big changes: older workers are retiring, younger people aren’t joining the industry, and technology is shifting to robotics. To tackle this, a new program started this month in Tennessee, focusing on high schools to train the next generation of car makers.
The Nissan plant in Franklin County, which opened in 1997, looks different now compared to back then.
“Manufacturing isn’t what it was 20 or 30 years ago,” said Matthew Overbay, Director of Manufacturing, Strategy, and Planning at Nissan North America.
Overbay explained that today’s assembly lines rely heavily on computers and robots.
“Now, it’s not about manually tightening bolts; it’s about maintaining robots, ensuring they’re working correctly, and diagnosing any issues,” he said.
That’s where a new type of education comes in. Called Centers of Excellence, these high school programs launched this month in four Tennessee school districts: Franklin, Grundy, Tullahoma, and Warren County.
Students in these programs are learning safety, measuring, automation, and coding, earning certifications that prepare them to work on the car assembly lines of the future—all while still in high school.
“You’ll go from your regular English, math, and history classes into a classroom with tools, equipment, and, most importantly, instructors who support your growth in advanced manufacturing,” Overbay said. “The focus is very much on advanced manufacturing.”
So, who’s teaching these students? Carefully selected Nissan workers with years of experience.
“One key aspect of the Centers of Excellence is ensuring our Nissan technicians are in these classrooms to help the students grow,” Overbay added.
These hand-picked teachers spent their summer training with Eric Oslund’s education department at MTSU to learn how to teach.
“It was a first for us to have a major company like Nissan ask us to train their employees to be teachers,” said Oslund, a professor and chair of Elementary and Special Education at MTSU.
“They chose great people, and they will make a difference. MTSU is proud to help create difference makers, and I have no doubt they’ll succeed,” Oslund said.
If successful, these Centers of Excellence could become a model for training Tennessee’s workforce statewide.
Creating these Centers of Excellence involved Nissan, MTSU, the Board of Regents, the high schools, and TCAT programs.