EDUCATION: CHANGING THE STATUS QUO

Doing More With Less: Guest columnist Dale Petts of Simonds International sees a perfect storm brewing as baby boomers retire and young people view factory work as dirty, dangerous and unfulfilling. But he also sees an industry that is discovering how online training technology can build the competitive value of its workforce.

Status quo is a Latin term that refers to “the existing state of affairs being the same as it existed previously, with no change.” To maintain the status quo is to keep current events the same as they have always been.

In manufacturing, the only status quo is the continual change in the competition to survive. This change exploded over the past generation and will intensify in the one to come. It demands an educated workforce that can quickly adapt new skills that meet their employers’ changing needs. In this environment, the competitive value a manufacturer can produce from its workforce is proportional to the effectiveness of its training.

In the insightful analysis that follows, Dale Petts of cutting tools manufacturer Simonds International (Fitcher, MA) explores this principle further by showing how an industry that faces some serious skills shortages is discovering new ways that online training technology can build the competitive value of its workforce. See if you agree.

MORE WITH LESS
Companies can do more with less . . . with the right training. A perfect storm is brewing in the manufacturing industry. The most seasoned, experienced employees – baby boomers – are retiring. Corporate managers would like to beef up their staffs with new, seasoned machine operators because the business climate is improving and orders are coming in. But there is a major shortage of up-and-coming skilled workers . . . and this is making growth plans and hiring targets increasingly harder to hit.

In an ideal world, workers would come pre-trained. According to our customers, sales representatives and associates, this is a far cry from today’s reality. Exacerbating the problem are the increasingly technologically advanced tools and machines that employees are being asked to operate. This equipment will ultimately make employees more productive and improve quality and efficiency on the production floor. But unfortunately, the training programs to bring employees up to speed and turn them into skilled machinists don’t often exist.

According to a recent editorial by Gerald Shankel, the outgoing president and CEO of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA; Rockford, IL), “The looming skilled workers shortage is an unwelcome threat to the nation’s manufacturing base that needs to be addressed at multiple levels, from better educating the next generation of factory workers to improving the public’s image of plant work.”

NO MORE STATUS QUO
Manufacturing has entered a new era of doing more with less: one shift is being asked to do the work of two; one employee must work as three; the call for increased productivity and efficiency continues to grow. At the same time, customers are demanding even higher precision and quality. There is no tolerance for mistakes because the cost of making them is high. Wasting expensive materials, missing deadlines, delivering poor quality products, damaging corporate reputations, and losing customers are no longer acceptable, if they ever were.

Aggravating the situation is the fact that corporate training programs and departments have been cut as businesses have reorganized and trimmed staff. This strategy is counterproductive because employee training is an investment that helps manufacturers achieve maximum benefit from new equipment. Employee training also protects capital assets, helping employees avoid making costly mistakes that could damage machines and tools.

Historically, leading suppliers supported manufacturing clients, visiting their customers in person, one at a time, holding classroom sessions for employees and their supervisors. Everyone had to be available when and where the training sessions were offered. The pressure was also on suppliers to visit as many customers as possible in the shortest amount of time because as long as supervisors and their staff remained untrained, costly mistakes remained unchecked.