Advanced manufacturing technologies have been identified as a critical and emerging field in the U.S. by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). Consequently, the U.S. government is encouraging universities and other educational institutions across the country to promote manufacturing programs. These programs could equip their students with the various high-technology skills needed to succeed in the new era of smart automation and adaptive industrial systems. To comply with such demand, a new manufacturing facility was founded at The University of Alabama and launched in collaboration with industrial partners. This facility, The Alabama Initiative on Manufacturing Development and Education (Alabama IMaDE), was founded to support a newly developed bachelor's degree in manufacturing systems engineering, as well as to support local and regional manufacturing activities through education, research, and service with a systems integration and industry mindset approach. This educational center enables hands-on, project-based learning in robotic manufacturing; as well as instruction in the programming, operation, and implementation of automated systems. To advance the facility's goal and mission, a two-day workshop on Smart Manufacturing Systems (SMS) was held for local high school teachers to introduce them to the concept of SMS and encourage its instruction across the state. The event was intended to expose the teachers to some elements and components of an SMS, connect them with our industrial and educational partners, and help them with the implementation of manufacturing programs at their institutions. During the Workshop, high school educators participated in three training sessions including 1) Introduction to Manufacturing Automation, Industry 4.0 and Smart Sensors, 2) Programmable Logic Control (PLC), and 3) Industrial Robot Programming. Key industrial partners conducted presentations and equipment demonstrations for the participants to help them incorporate the teaching of manufacturing technologies into their institutions' STEM curricula. This paper discusses the imparted workshop, its results, and potential impacts as well as the participants' responses to both pre-workshop and post-workshop surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...