Presentation Explores How Flexible Design Can Keep Pace with Industry 5.0 and Advanced Manufacturing
TOLEDO, Ohio, May 28, 2026 — SSOE Group (www.ssoe.com), an internationally ranked architecture and engineering firm, announced two of its workforce development subject matter experts have been selected to present at the MiAPPA 2026 Summer Conference, taking place June 3–5 at Mission Point Resort on Mackinac Island, Michigan. MiAPPA is the Michigan Chapter of APPA – Leadership in Educational Facilities, the leading professional association for educational facility professionals. SSOE’s Tim Swartz, AIA, NCARB, Senior Architect and Higher Education Business Leader, and Adriane McGillis, AIA, NCARB, Senior Architect and Southeast Region Higher Education Business Leader, have been selected to present, “The New Wave of Engineering Technology: At the Crossroads of Active Learning and Advanced Manufacturing.” 
It examines how educational institutions can design adaptable, future-ready learning environments in the face of rapidly evolving workforce demands driven by AI, automation, and Industry 5.0.
The session will feature four case studies spanning K–12 career and technical education, technical colleges, universities, and employer training centers to illustrate how flexible, industry-aligned facility design can meet the needs of a changing workforce: Michigan State University’s Technology Engineering program, and, in South Carolina, the Scout Motors readySC Training Center; Piedmont Technical College’s Saluda Center for Manufacturing Excellence; and a Jasper County CATE Center.
Swartz shared:
“AI and automation are evolving more quickly than the education system can adapt. To ensure Michigan and the broader U.S. remain leaders in advanced manufacturing, our educational facilities need to be designed for change—not just for the programs and equipment of today, but for the industries that haven’t fully taken shape yet.”
McGillis added:
“The most successful workforce facilities we’ve designed aren’t built around a single employer or a fixed curriculum. They’re designed as adaptable environments bridging education and production, giving institutions the agility to respond as industry needs shift.”
Turning Facilities into Talent Pipelines
SSOE has completed more than 2 million SF of workforce development and training center design for higher education institutions, private industry, and trade organizations. This includes projects for BMW, Hyundai, Toyota, Volkswagen, Scout Motors, Georgia Quick Start, the Technical College System of Georgia, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
The firm ranks as a Top 10 Design Firm in four industrial markets by ENR, proving breadth and longevity with our combination of advanced manufacturing expertise and higher education design experience, which directly informs its approach to workforce development and training center facility design.
The Speakers Shaping the Conversation
Tim Swartz and Adriane McGillis are architects who lead workforce development and higher education projects across the Midwest and Southeast, as well as emerging markets across the U.S. From career and technical education centers and community college renovations to state-led workforce programs and advanced training facilities, their work spans the full spectrum of environments where the next-generation workforce is trained.
Both Swartz and McGillis understand how facilities function as strategic tools to attract students and faculty, support evolving workforce needs, and express an institutional identity through thoughtful planning and design.
Together, they bring firsthand experience designing facilities responding to changing industry demands while supporting long-term workforce readiness. Their combined perspectives are informed by projects spanning automotive and manufacturing training centers to university and statewide workforce initiatives. Backed by more than 20 years of experience each, Swartz and McGillis bring these real-world design challenges to the broader dialogue on workforce development design at their MiAPPA presentation this summer.
Southeast U.S. Contact (South Carolina-based)
Adriane McGillis | (803) 765.0320
