HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Proactive Technologies, Inc. would like to wish you, your staff and families “Happy holidays and best wishes for a safe and prosperous New Year!”
Special Offer to South Carolina Manufacturers
ProactiveTechnologies, Inc. announced a special opportunity for South Carolina manufacturers who, prior to the “Economic Crash of 2008-2011,” participated in a structured on-the-job training program through one of the UpState community or technical colleges. Proactive Technologies provided the structured on-the-job training component and is now offering a special discount offer to “pick up where we left off.” The offer has been extended to January 15th, 2016. In addition, for any South Carolina manufacturers who have not yet experienced the PROTECH© system of managed human resource development, we have a great offer for you as well. Read more.
Costs Associated With Unstructured, Haphazard Worker Training (part 2 of 2)
Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
The November issue of Proactive Technologies Report’s Part 1 of “Costs Associated With Unstructured, Haphazard Worker Training,” offered a number of examples of unstructured, haphazard and ineffective worker training that I experienced in my early years in manufacturing. We all have had similar experiences throughout our lives to draw on, I am sure. It is still perplexing that – in view of all of the advanced systems, process controls and metrics that keep an enterprise operating competitively – management would assume that such a “hands-off” approach to developing the critical worker component wouldn’t detract from the other metrics. Why would management expect anything more than skeptical results?
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New equipment that leads to decreased output, more workers added but productivity and capacity falling, or more workers producing product but most of it going into the scrap or rework bin. All of these counter-intuitive outcomes – signs of inadequate or non-existent task-based training – will eventually grab upper management’s attention!
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It is a given that new technology and equipment are dependent on someone learning to either program, service and/or operate them correctly. The incumbent workers, in the job classification before the transition, are the obvious choices for learning. Conceptually, they were doing the work prior to automation with previous version technology and understand the theory and current best practice of the work to be done. These worker’s attained skills will now be tested against the new skill requirements. Unfortunately, training of current workers for even obvious new technology requirements such as setup, operate and changeover of the equipment, is often overlooked or its significance downplayed. Consequently, often the economic benefits that advances in technology are to provide are marginally, or never, realized despite the costly investment. Read more
Enterprise Expansion/Contraction and Worker Development Standardization
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc
One challenge faced when expanding, contracting or acquiring an enterprise is adjusting the scale of the workforce development strategy(ies) that already exist(s) to the increase/decrease in the number of workers while maintaining a consistent ratio of output, quality yield, safe performance and process compliance. Contrary to an accountant’s perspective on staffing level adjustment, there should be serious consideration given to the range and depth of each worker’s acquired skills; an “inventory” of each employee prior to the official act of expanding or contracting. We take a physical inventory of product, equipment, parts, etc. to assess value, so why would we treat a human asset any different?
Obviously an expansion strategy is different than a contraction strategy, but when it comes to determining the value of a worker it is similar for both strategies. How an organization addresses the development, measurement and maintenance of that value may differ widely. Let’s look at both scenarios. Read more.
Making Worker Training Comply With Quality Initiatives; The Role of Worker Training/Certification Versus Worker Audit by Quality Assurance
Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
When attempting to comply with the worker training provision of ISO, AS, TS, or NADCAP, it is important to keep in mind the intent of the requirement. The goal should include avoiding an “overshoot” with unnecessary additional work and/or creating an infrastructure that is hard to manage and prone to noncompliance. Often interdepartmental rivalries interfere with logical discussions of how to meet the requirement without creating an internal institution to manage it.
Typically, the guidelines for each of the major quality initiatives listed contains a section that provides a fairly open requirement for worker training to make sure the worker component of the quality system is sufficient to ensure that process-based tasks can be performed as designed. If they cannot, the effectiveness of the rest of the quality assurance system will be thrown into doubt. The section provides enough guidance but places the responsibility on the registrant to end any past practices that were inconclusive and open to questions: Read more.
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