Last updated on November 11th, 2025 at 03:23 pm
CARROLLTON — Before she graduated from high school, Jennifer Perez thought she might want to go into nursing.
She wanted to take care of people and had a sense of the training required. But she was also extremely shy and unsure if it was the right fit.
Then, she entered 12 for Life, a Southwire program that blends required high school classes with work in a manufacturing setting. While learning how to wind and package wire produced by the Carrollton, Georgia, company, she discovered new career possibilities and grew her confidence.
Perez’s transformation was one of many success stories highlighted during the 2025 Georgia AIM Week, the second annual statewide event hosted by Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM). The week connected advanced manufacturing, education, and workforce development with stops in Carrollton, Warner Robins, Albany, Augusta, Athens, LaGrange, and Savannah. Events featured mobile studios, technology demos, job fairs, and resources to help residents explore advanced manufacturing.
The week kicked off at 12 for Life to highlight the unique public-private partnership and inspire other manufacturers to connect with their community when looking for workforce solutions.
“As a safety clerk (at 12 for Life), I gained the experience here from the safety team, and then Southwire allowed me to get OSHA 10 certification,” said Perez. Southwire also included her when conducting a bloodborne pathogen audit at another facility, which gave her even deeper knowledge of the role of safety within a manufacturing environment.
Today, the 2018 graduate is an environmental health and safety specialist for Southwire. “At first I wanted to be a nurse, but then I fell in love with safety.”
That kind of career exposure is central to 12 for Life and set the tone for Georgia AIM Week’s theme, AIM for Tomorrow.
Because Georgia AIM supports 15 regional projects, each event reflected its community’s strength. For example, a seminar at Albany Technical College focused on the intersection of technology and agriculture to serve Southwest Georgia’s workforce. In Augusta, the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center highlighted students who conduct cybersecurity site-assistance visits to small and medium manufacturers.
“Last year, we celebrated the week with the launch of the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio, taking it on tech-focused road trip across the state,” said Donna Ennis, Georgia AIM’s co-director and associate vice president of community engagement at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2). “This year’s events highlight communities where manufacturers, educators, and workforce partners are coming together to drive the future of advanced manufacturing.”
Funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration with significant support from the state of Georgia, Georgia AIM is one of several statewide economic development and community engagement initiatives housed at Georgia Tech’s EI2.
In Warner Robins, the Middle Georgia Innovation Corridor hosted a trade show-style expo that brought together business owners, economic developers, and technology providers. Guests also got a special treat: A demonstration of the T-shirt cannon designed by members of the Houston County Flying Legion robotics team.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve been working on the design and more recently we’ve done a lot the building, hooking up the pneumatics and the wiring,” said Cal Green, a senior at Houston County High School. “We’ll take it to football games and events like this and hopefully shoot hundreds of T-shirts. That’s what I’m excited for.”
The collection of exhibitors was proof of the innovation ecosystem that can be found in Middle Georgia, in large part to investment through Georgia AIM.
“Middle Georgia is a leader in advanced manufacturing and innovation across multiple industry sectors,” said Joe Richardson, Executive Director of the Middle Georgia Innovation Corridor. “Events like this Expo shine a spotlight on the groundbreaking ideas and exceptional talent driving our region forward.”
Throughout the expo, visitors experienced innovation through hands-on demonstrations and student-led projects. Robotics teams shared their creations while Heaven Whitby, director of the Fab Lab, guided guests through 3D printing, fabrication, and engineering activities. Virtual reality stations drew lines of curious students eager to explore digital design and production. Each corner of the Century of Flight Hangar at the Museum of Aviation, the site of the expo, buzzed with excitement.
At another event in Athens, guests toured the Innovation Factory lab, part of the University of Georgia College of Engineering. The lab designed AI “vignettes” for the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio, which are portable, hands-on demos that show how AI can be used in manufacturing. The lab also partners with manufacturers to prototype and test new technology solutions.
“It’s amazing the way manufacturing is now compared to just 10 years ago,” said Alex Orso, dean of the UGA College of Engineering. “You look at this space — it’s a space where you have students, faculty, and companies working together and working with technology that we can prototype.”
The week wrapped with events near Savannah showcasing career pathways in manufacturing. While middle schoolers toured the 12 for Life facility for the kickoff, events on Thursday and Friday connected high school students to AI, manufacturing, and supply chain careers.
At Groves High School, a daylong career fair introduced students and their families to opportunities in transportation, logistics, and supply chain management, all industries essential to manufacturing and key for the region.
The final day of Georgia AIM Week wrapped at Effingham College and Career Academy, where activities helped students make deeper connections between smart technology and manufacturing.
“Our school just added a manufacturing pathway,” said Owen Nix, assistant principal and CTAE director at Effingham College and Career Academy. “We have two manufacturing engineering classes, and we’re plan to continue to expand. Our biggest issue is space, really,”
Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education or CTAE programs, exist at high schools across Georgia, and include programs in mechatronics, welding, computer science, and engineering.
Effingham students rotated through the three stations set up for Georgia AIM Week — mobile makerspaces from Fort Valley State University’s Mobile STEM Lab, an interactive activity that introduces concepts in nuclear physics from Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC), and the Georgia AIM Mobile Studio. At each stop, students began to connect the dots between AI and manufacturing.
Some students began to see the possibilities for themselves, considering how to incorporate AI into drones or connect a laser cutter to their home computer.
And that spark of curiosity was the goal.
“If you can get a student engaged and enthusiastic, they’re going to learn. And this is really cool,” said Chuck Easley, a supply chain professor at Georgia Tech and one of the partners on the Georgia AIM grant. Sometimes, he said, parents tell their kids to stop coding or playing with a drone and study. “Well, what better way to combine that, because you’re having fun and you’re learning, and you’re coming up with something that really is what the future holds.”