Proactive Technologies Report – October 2016

Proactive Technologies, Inc. specializes in setting up, managing and supporting structured on-the-job training for the accelerated transfer of expertise™, and has worked extensively with all types ISO/AS/TS compliant manufacturers and manufacturing positions such as Maintenance (all crafts), CNC machining, Tool & Die, Tool & Gage, Mold and Die Repair, Assembly (all levels) and more. Many were registered as apprenticeships. Proactive Technologies has assisted client-companies to successfully apply for, manage, document and receive reimbursement for almost $2,000,000 in projects in just the last 3 years alone! A substantial amount of that amount was reimbursed to the clients by the state of Ohio to lessen their initial out-of-pocket investment on a project that leads to capacity building, quality improvement for maximized results and return on worker investment! Click here for more information. 

This is a reimbursement program. Once the employer applies and is accepted, the employer completes the approved training and submits the receipts and rosters to the OH IWT, the employer will be reimbursed for 50% of the cost. If the proposed training isn’t held and no training cost is incurred, the employer simply has nothing to submit for reimbursement. No risk, no penalties.

If you would like to discuss a project for your organization, contact us immediately and we will help you create a sensible project containing structured on-the-job training (for transferring task-based expertise) and related technical instruction (building core skills needed to learn the tasks), and we will put together a proposal that meets your needs. If the proposal is to your satisfaction, we will put together a proposed application (that meets the state’s requirements and your specifications). If that is to your satisfaction, we will input the application into the State of Ohio’s website so you can review and be ready to submit it by the deadline.

Proactive Technologies has made several trips to the area for onsite presentations in the last three months, and there will not be time for more onsite presentations before the deadline. However, several live online presentations are scheduled for October 6 – 10th and you are invited to attend one. Select the one – from the schedule in this newsletter or from our website that fits your schedule from the website page and we will send you a teleconference invitation for your viewing at your computer. If you would like to schedule one for an alternative date and time, contact us with your request.

We recommend that you do not delay. If you miss the deadline for this round, you will have to wait until 2018 (if an OH Incumbent Worker Grant round 6 is offered).

We tried a lot of innovative programs for employers in the community within the constraints mentioned, but if I was to be honest we rarely kept up. What we thought we knew of the targeted job classifications and their requirements, and upon which our programs were built and measured, seemed to become increasingly misaligned within just a few years. Not only was advancing technology putting pressure on the content of our learning materials and program design – a constant push toward obsolescence – employers were continually rethinking the design of their job classifications to meet their business goals and budgets. We were finding less and less similarity in job classifications between employers, by job title and job content.

The “Maintenance” job classification was a perfect example and could be incredibly different from company to company. Read More

“Employers do not need to keep themselves locked in the antiquated model of worker development. They can break free and make the worker development system operate like all of the other manageable and measurable subsystems in the organization.”

Comparing this approach to all of the other, more systematic, approaches one sees in manufacturing it seems underwhelming, uninspiring and many ways inexplicable. What is the point of LEAN manufacturing efforts to streamline processes for efficiency if the participating employees are not properly trained to absorb the improvements? What is the point of analyzing processes for best practices if the employees are not properly trained for them now or when they are further improved later? Training in a manufacturing setting must be interactive and evolving, not stagnant and irrelevant, if it is to be viewed as anything more than a cost the accounting department would like to minimize.

Many past Proactive Technologies Report articles have addressed the need for highly job-relevant task-based training that can only come about from a comprehensive job/task analysis. If the reason an employer hires workers is to perform specific tasks that the business model requires to be profitable, then the proper attention and effort must be given to ensure each worker performs their tasks in the most efficient and effective manner. This moves the expenses associated with labor from the “cost” column to the “investment” column. Each employee’s task performance could be, and should be, managed just like all of the technology investments in the plant for maximum return. Read More 

“Employers also benefit through savings in insurance premiums based on participants’ combined results.”

But with all the perceived benefits wearable devices offer, the author cautioned employers, “Companies that want to incorporate wearable fitness trackers into their wellness programs should make certain the health plan will keep private data secure.” Read More