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Thought Leaders were surveyed after the event for additional thoughts and input. Finally, peer reviewers analyzed the results of the thought leader session to enrich and vet the research. It is with gratitude to InterLink’s partner in this endeavor: TMAC, the InterLink Industry Trends Task Force Leaders, and the Manufacturing Industry Thought Leaders who made this study possible. This structured and disciplined process will be followed for subsequent thought leader groups, as we research other industries, to ensure systematic and robust data collection. PROJECT PARTNER ORGANIZATION TMAC is a Technical and Management Assistance & Consulting organization and part of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership hosted at the University of Texas at Arlington. TMAC accelerates the profitable growth of manufacturers by implementing methods, innovation, technology and best practices to develop and improve products, processes and people. MISSION: To increase the global competitiveness of the Texas economy by working to grow the extended manufacturing enterprise. www.tmac.org & www.tmacdfw.org InterLink is a nonprofit organization with 28 years of labor market and industry trend forecasting. InterLink acts as a bridge between business and education providing secondary and post-secondary education institutions in the Dallas/Fort Worth region industry driven forecasts for Career and Technical Education program planning and curriculum development to train a highly skilled and knowledgeable regional workforce. www.interlink-ntx.org Copyright 2016 North Central Texas InterLink, Inc. ~ All rights reserved. 3