Proactive Technologies Report – December, 2016

cardHAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU, YOUR FAMILY AND STAFF FROM THE STAFF OF

PROACTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.!!

Best Wishes for a Bright and Prosperous New Year! 

Proactive Technologies Significant Discount Offer Announced in November Still Open Until December 15, 2016! 

Free “No-Risk” Consultation Session Added – Witness Approach for Your Specific Job Classification Before You Decide

by Proactive Technologies, Inc. Staff

Proactive Technologies Inc. is extending a generous discount offer to manufacturing employers through December 15, 2016 ! It is our way to reach out to employers – both returning clients (mostly disrupted by the Crash of 2008) and newly interested contacts – with interest in exploring the power and benefits of a structured on-the-job training infrastructure, but may have been held back by budget realities.

Recently notices were emailed regarding this offer. Former clients received specific information describing, in brief, “where we left off” with their project, suggesting that they contact us to learn what little needs to be done to update and implement their program. This accelerated transfer of expertise™ approach is a tremendous offer without the discount, but with it can help any employer train the skilled workers they need and realize an increase in worker capacity, work quantity and quality and compliance while reducing the internal costs of training. New-hires and incumbent workers are driven to full job mastery and higher levels of return on worker investment (ROWI).

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DeanUnderstanding the Important Difference Between Classroom, Online and On-The-Job Training: Knowing the Difference Can Save Your Organization Time, Money and Disappointment

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

In the November, 2016 issue of Proactive Technologies Report article entitled, “10 Reasons Structured On-The-Job Training is a Vital and Necessary System for Any Organization” I laid out 10 very important reasons employers should seriously consider adding structured on-the-job training to their worker development strategy.This is based on the supposition that everyone’s definition of “on-the-job training” is similar if not the same, the difference between “structured” and “unstructured” on-the-job training is clear and recognized, and the vast difference between true structured on-the-job training and “classroom” or “online” learning is unquestioned. It also needs to be understood that structured on-the-job training is not interchangeable with classroom and online learning, but rather the “capstone” of applying core skills developed from the latter into mastering units of work for which an employer is willing to pay wages.

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Retiring Workers and the Tragic Loss of Intellectual  Property and Value

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

The warnings went out over two decades ago. Baby Boomers were soon to retire, taking their accumulated expertise – locked in their brains – with them. But very little was done to address this problem. Call it complacency, lack of awareness of the emerging problem, preoccupation wit h quarterly performance, disinterest or disbelief, very few companies took action and the Crash of 2008 dispruted any meager efforts that were underway.

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Can’t Find The Right Workers? Why Not Train Workers To Your Own To Specification?

Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

According to a recent report by Career Builder.com, more than half of the employers surveyed could not find qualified candidates: 71% – Information-Technology specialists, 70% – Engineers, 66% – Managers, 56% – Healthcare and other specialists, 52% – Financial Operations personnel. According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, nearly half of small and mid-size employers said they can find few or no “qualified applicants” for recent openings. And anecdotal evidence from manufacturing firms echoes the same challenge with specialty manufacturing jobs such as maintenance, NC machining and technical support positions. This, in large part, can be attributed to the upheaval caused by the Great Crash of 2008 and the following disruption of several million careers. Sidelined workers saw the erosion of their skill bases while waiting years for an economic recovery that, for many, has not reached them yet.

However, many or most of these workers can be “reskilled” or “upskilled” for the current workforce. The solution lies not in waiting for the labor market to magically produce the needed qualified candidates, but rather in each company investing a little to build their own internal system of structured on-the job training. With such an infrastructure, any candidate with strong core skills can be trained quickly and accurately to any employer’s specifications. Furthermore, a strong training infrastructure has factored into it methods of acceptable basic core skill remediation when the benefit outweighs the cost.

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Read the full December, 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

Posted in News

Proactive Technologies Report – November, 2016

Proactive Technologies is Reaching Out With a Significant Discount Offer Until December 15, 2016! 

by Proactive Technologies, Inc. Staff

Proactive Technologies Inc. is extending a generous discount offer to manufacturing employers through December 15, 2016! It is our way to reach out to employers who contacted us with interest in exploring the power and benefits of a structured on-the-job training infrastructure, but were held back by budget realities.

Recently notices were emailed regarding this offer. Former clients received specific information describing, in brief, “where we left off” with their project, suggesting that they contact us to learn what little needs to be done to update and implement their program. This accelerated transfer of expertise™ approach is a tremendous offer without the discount, but with it can help any employer train the skill skilled workers they need and realize an increase in worker capacity, work quantity and quality and compliance while reducing the internal costs of training. Both new-hires and incumbent workers are driven to full job mastery and higher levels of return on worker investment (ROWI).

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10 Reasons Structured On-The-Job Training is a Vital and Necessary System for Any Organization

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
There are many reasons a deliberate, structured on-the-job training system should be a priority consideration for any employer. For decades employers have felt that having an employee take a few classes here and a few online modules there translates directly to improved worker output and performance. But for decades, as well, employers have continued to talk about a continually increasing “skills gap.” Connection? Obviously yes.

“Employers expend enormous resources – time, effort, dollars – on efforts to improve efficiencies…in some cases without making an appreciable difference or reaching the intended goals.”

A deliberate and documented system to develop workers and maximize the return on worker investment should be a “no-brainer.” Employers expend enormous resources – time, effort, dollars – on efforts to improve efficiencies…in some cases without making an appreciable difference or reaching the intended goals. But rather than a philosophical discussion comparing approaches to training, I thought it might be beneficial to just offer symptoms of failed approaches and reasons why any employer should think more seriously about the state of their internal training infrastructure.

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Frank Gibson, Long-Time Program Manager of The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center Retires

By Proactive Technologies, Inc. Staff
Frank Gibson, Program Manager at The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center in Marion Ohio announced that he will be retiring from his position officially November 4th, 2016. A retirement party was held at the center October 31st at The Center. After a brief “time-out,” Frank plans to pursue projects in his area of expertise as a self-employed contractor.

Mr. Gibson started his career path in manufacturing, working in management for companies such as Millington PlasticsU-Brand PlasticsBaja Boats and Hydraulic Inc. Prior to formally joining the OSU-AEC, The Center contracted with him through Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center Adult Education where he was employed from 1997 – 2002. Mr. Gibson also held assignments with the Ohio Department of Development – Ohio Industrial Training Program as an area representative, and as a business and industry consultant for Tri-Rivers Adult Education.

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A “Pay-for-Value” Worker Development Program – Fair to Management and Workers, and Effective Too!

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

A conundrum for many employers – those who are allowed to consider the wage-value relationship in their business strategy – is “what is the right pay rate for work performed.” An often used strategy is to establish a competitive wage range for a job classification based on area surveys of similar job classification in the industry, adjusted for the uniqueness of work requirements for the employer’s job classification. Once hired, an employee progresses through the wage range measured by time in the job classification, in some cases with wage adjustments based on merit. While consistent, this approach may limit the employer to paying, in many cases, more for labor than the value derived. And here is why.

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New Live, Online Presentation Topics

Proactive Technologies Staff

Proactive Technologies has added 3 new live online presentations to its website offerings. Of course, all presentations are free of charge and provided to clients and prospective clients to help them understand the power of the PROTECH© system of managed human resource development. (click on title to view description).

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Read the full November, 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

Posted in News

Proactive Technologies Report – October 2016

SPECIAL NOTICE TO OHIO EMPLOYERS
The Ohio Incumbent Worker Training Voucher Program Round 5 Application Window has Open! Submission Deadline October 14th!

by Proactive Technologies, Inc Staff.

There is still an opportunity for those employers who have not yet conceived of a project and prepare an application for grant funding for the Ohio Incumbent Worker Training Voucher Program Round 5. Applications must be submitted October 14, 2016 at 10:00 am ET.

For well crafted applications this is, by far, the easiest grant money for employers to apply for, use and obtain reimbursement. Manufacturing and Advanced Manufacturing are two of the targeted sectors.

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The Key To Effective Maintenance Training: The Right Blend of Structured On-The-Job Training and Related Technical Instruction

Dr. Dave Just, MPACTMaintenance and Reliability SolutionsDave Just Head Shot

I spent a lot of my career as Dean of Corporate and Continuing Education at community and technical colleges, in several states. Where we could, we tried hard to deliver the best core skill development programs for technical job classifications that the employers in our community requested. We often did this working off the limited, and often suspect, job information the employer could provide to us.

Often we were up against budgetary constraints that limited our efforts to keep the programs up to date, even when the instructor was willing to maintain the relevance of the program. If that wasn’t enough, school leadership often showed ambivalence toward adult and career education due in part to the fact that its demand was driven by gyrations in the economy. Furthermore, the institution was built upon, more familiar with and understood better credit courses for more stable subjects such as math, science, literature, history and the social sciences.

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Finding the Zen in Workforce Development Strategies – Structured On-The-Job DeanTraining and Job-Relevant Related Technical Instruction

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Many employers still feel locked into the old model of worker training. Waiting for the local educational institutions to crank out the qualified labor supply they need. If that is not sufficient, they search for available workers with relevant transferable skills from previous employment. If that doesn’t work, they settle for workers they find, hire them into the organization and hope for the best – maybe throwing in some classes and/or online training as if that alone will make up the difference.

Looking back, can one honestly say that this is an approach that inspires confidence? Or has worked well? Is it a matter of doing what we have been doing all along, not satisfied with the results and cost, but thinking that it is what every employer does? This is an area that cannot improve on its own. It needs to be brought into balance like all of the other organizations in the company.

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The Efficacy of Employee Fitness Trackers: Where is This Leading?

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

In a Pittsburg Post-Gazette article “Wearable Devices Help Employees Stay on Track”  on May 3, 2016, the author described the employer trend of utilizing wearable technology in the workplace to monitor employee health and wellness activities. “Because physical activity delivers a number of health benefits — including lower risks of diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure — health plans are now taking advantage of wearable technology to improve employee wellness programs.”

“For example, UnitedHealthcare recently launched UnitedHealthcare Motion, a wellness program that provides employees with a wearable device (at no additional charge) that tracks their activity and shows them statistics about the frequency, intensity and total steps taken each day. Employees can earn daily money bonuses for hitting specific activity goals. The money is deposited directly into their health reimbursement account.”

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Read the full October, 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

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Proactive Technologies Report – September 2016

Extreme “Bumping” – A Powerful Lesson Supporting theDean Value of Cross-Training From a Union Shop

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

A challenge for union shops in this age of “higher-than-normal” labor turnover – through voluntary and encouraged retirements, reactions to economic events, corporate strategies to lower labor costs, etc. – is “bumping rights.” Whenever an employee with seniority departs the organization for any reason, a posting goes up and lesser senior employees can bid on that position if posted for bidding and kept open. If the hiring ends up being internal, several people can change seats to fill the open and subsequently opened up positions, until everyone is seated once again.

The very positive aspect of this labor contract provision is the opportunities for cross-training presented to the employees, and employer for that matter. Although it may be a little frightening for less senior people who, through the early years, get bumped rather than do the bumping, it provides hope to newer and younger workers seeking to move-up from entry-level and a chance to experience more challenging and interesting job classifications. The skill cross-training it provides facilitates continuous development opportunities to the employee that they might not have in a non-union shop -at least to that degree.

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Thinking Past the Assessment: Unfinished Goals and Unrealized Expectations

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Literally speaking, an “assessment” is the process of measuring the value, quality and/or quantity of something. There are many types of assessments,  and methods for assessing. In theory, it is the process of evaluating one thing against a set of criteria to determine the match/mismatch.

There are assessments for risk, for taxes, vulnerability. There are psychological, health, and political assessments. There is a group of educational assessments that measure a variety of outcomes such as educational attainment – assessments of course content mastery, assessment of grade level attainment, assessments of Scholastic Aptitude Tests (“SAT”) that compare a student to their peers nationally and a variety of college readiness exams.

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The Movement to Clear “Dead Wood” From Payroll – Is This a Good Idea?

by Dean Prigelmeier, President, Proactive Technologies, Inc.

It sounds smart, practical and indicative of effective management. Who wants “dead wood” unless you are camping and need kindling? But it is easy these days to pick a target, whether facts support your position or not, and demonize it to rally support for its eradication – often unwittingly supported by the people it will most detrimentally affect.

Like most oversold management theories that appear and then disappear once the collateral damage is discovered, this one too seems to have that trajectory – probably not before it ravages the capacity of companies that are running well but on which “cost cutting at any cost” measures are imposed.

The practice may be incredibly risky to the long-term health of the operation. In the August 22nd, 2016 Wall Street Journal article entitled ‘Nowhere to Hide for “Dead Wood” Workers‘  by Lauren Weber, the author detailed the story of Kimberly-Clark’s aggressive approach to clearing out the dead wood. Gone are the days of “coddling” employees who are “under-performing.” Gone are the days when an employer’s loyalty to the worker was reciprocated with loyalty to the corporation. Survival of the fittest is the driving culture for these corporations that have embraced “Performance Management.” Read More

 


Structured On-The-Job Training for Non-Manufacturing Job Classifications

Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Although the PROTECH© system of managed human resource development was designed for manufacturing and there has extensively proven its effectiveness, the approach is just as effective for jobs in any industry, and level of the organization. Proactive Technologies, Inc.’s job/task analysis methodology is rooted in those used by the U. S. Departments of Defense and Energy – modified for use in the private-sector world with private-sector budgets and time constraints. The development and use of the job data is based on those practices that seemed to be working in human resource management, human resource development, technical writing, quality control and workforce development – modernized to an ever-changing and challenging world.

When it comes to the analysis of the job, which is the center of all instruments and activities developed from it, the common factor of all work is that it can be defined in discrete units called “tasks.” Nobody is ever hired and expected to be very knowledgeable about a subject, or be very aware, or be strong. These attributes do not become useful until applied in the performance of a meaningful recognizable unit of work. If correct performance of the task, the “best practice,” requires these attributes as either a necessary to learning to perform the task or needed in the performance of the task, they become prerequisite, but not the outcome.

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Read the full September, 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

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Proactive Technologies Report – August 2016

Developing the Multi-Craft and Specialty Maintenance Dave Just Head ShotTechnicians You Need; To Specification,With Minimal Investment

Dr. Dave Just, MPACT Maintenance and Reliability Solutions

In the March, 2016 Proactive Technologies Report article, “Grow Your Own Multi-Craft Maintenance Technicians – Using a ‘Systems Approach’ to Training” I described how Proactive Technologies, Inc. and Mpact Maintenance and Reliability Solutions has joined forces to setup and implement the hybrid model of worker development for maintenance and technical support positions for their clients. The ‘systems approach” to worker development, as described, is simple in its structure but, also, includes the quality control points to ensure the worker development outcomes are reached. Although this approach can be used for any job classification in any setting, together we have applied this approach effectively for maintenance and technical support positions for many manufacturers over the last 2 decades.

We listened to our manufacturing clients. We heard the frustration they expressed in looking for highly qualified new-hire maintenance candidates when too few technical colleges offer a solid maintenance or maintenance technician program. The ones that either do not have content that is relevant enough or if they do, cannot graduate enough students to meet the demand. Employers realize they are, by necessity, a major part of the solution.

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Training Issue or Attitude Issue? Understanding the Difference

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

If you spend some time in the Human Resources Department office, you often witness a supervisor or manager trying to explain why the new-hire isn’t working out. “Why do you believe that?” asks the HR Manager. The supervisor thinks a moment and says, “He just doesn’t act like he wants to learn.” The issue seems to be attitudinal. The HR Manager doesn’t bother to ask for any empirical evidence since it usually doesn’t exist, so the decision is made to terminate the new-hire and start all over…again.

Some, more forward thinking, human resources departments concluded that assessing job prospects might reduce the amount of hiring turnover. It certainly does help do that if the job classification was properly analyzed and the assessment instruments were aligned to the data for “job relevance.” However, even with the best screening potentially good employees might be lost. Knowing how to recognize the difference between attitude and training-related issues may save good employees from being lost due to misdiagnosis.

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Replicating Your Best PerformersDean

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of  Proactive Technologies, Inc.

One project I was involved with sought to establish a structured on-the-job training program for a “CNC Operator” position and establish an apprenticeship. It consisted of around 40 different machines; manual and NC-operated of several brands, controller types and purposes. When I analyze a job – task by task – I first contact the resident “subject matter expert.” It is my experience that in lieu of accurate standard process documents that everyone can use when assigned a machine, each operator keeps their own setup and operation notes. They are usually reluctant to share them.

As analysts, we assume that if the subject matter expert is assigned to us, it is a reflection of management’s confidence in the operator’s consistently high level of performance. We also learn a lot about the sub-culture that has arisen at the organization, bordering on “work performance anarchy.” Despite the connotations, this is a useful revelation. This lack of vital information sharing that has been going on can be eliminated. The collective wealth of task-specific information can be screened, validated, standardized and revision-controlled to be shared with all who are asked to perform the tasks.

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Using Workforce Development Grants to Extend Your Training Budget

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

There are a lot of pressures on company training budgets that can arise these days. The company may be performing moderately well – numbers looking reasonably good in an economy that can be called “sluggish.” Shareholders react and a major realignment is announced. Departmental budgets must be reexamined and each department may have to explain their purpose and value to the company.

Companies, especially publicly traded companies, are driven by monthly scrutiny of their quarterly guidance upon which the trading on Wall Street is determined. In a sluggish economy, 12-month goals may never be reached if evaluated quarterly for 12-month outcomes. Nevertheless, the effort to cut costs to raise earnings finally reaches bone.

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Read the full August 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

 

Posted in News

Proactive Technologies Report – July 2016

“Full Job Mastery” means “Maximum Worker Capacity” – DeanA Verifiable Model for Measuring and Improving Worker Value While Transferring Valuable Expertise 

By Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

It is no secret that with the traditional model of “vocational” education, the burden of the job/task-specific skill development falls on the employer. It is not economic feasible nor practical for educational institutions to focus content for every job area for every employer. So they, instead, focus rightly on core skills and competencies – relying on the employer to deliver the rest. This is where the best efforts of local educational institutions and training providers begin to break down even if highly relevant to the industry sector.

Employers rarely have an internal structure for task-based training of their workers, so even the most aggressive related technical instruction efforts erode against technological advances as every month passes. If core skills and competencies mastered prior to work are not transformed quickly into tasks the worker is expected to perform, the foundation for learning task performance may crumble through loss of memory, loss of relevance or loss of opportunity to apply them.

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Retiring Workers and the Tragic Loss of Intellectual Property and Value

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

The warnings went out over two decades ago. Baby Boomers were soon to retire, taking their accumulated expertise – locked in their brains – with them. But very little was done to address this problem. Call it complacency, lack of awareness of the emerging problem, disinterest or disbelief very few companies took action and the Crash of 2008 disrupted any meager efforts that were underway.

According to Steve Minter in an IndustryWeek Magazine article on April 10, 2012, “Only 17% of organizations said they had developed processes to capture institutional memory/organizational knowledge from employees close to retirement.” Who is going to train their replacements once they are gone? Would the learning curve of replacement workers be as long and costly as the retiree’s learning curve? Would operations be disrupted and, if so, to what level?

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Vocational Training in High Schools – A Model the United States Should Revisit: Part 2 of 2

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

In Part 1 of “Vocational Training in High Schools – A Model the United States Should Revisit” in the June, 2016 issue of the Proactive Technologies Report, a personal experience of vocational and community college program completion was discussed. The point was made that the high school vocational training programs of the past, which was phased out in the 1980’s while schools faced budget cuts, seemed closer to a European educational system approach and offered a relevancy to local employers that nationally coordinated efforts of today do not.

The 1980’s saw the beginning of the proliferation of computers in personal lives and business. Machines were being retrofitted to be run, in part, by PLC (“programmable logic controller”) programs and new machines were being designed around it. Even the most mundane tasks, such as writing correspondence and processing a business transaction, was being automated. As the technology, with all of its promise, was understood and absorbed the rate of technological innovation accelerated – creating an increasing gap between 2 and 4-year educational curriculum and industry needs.

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Differences in Job and Task Analysis Methodologies

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

There are many forms of job analysis today, each with its unique outcome, its own taxonomy and methodology. Depending on the needs of the job analysis data user, any type of output can be derived.

Job analysis can be defined as “the process of collecting and verifying information about the job.” Any job classification may have numerous components, such as duties, tasks and sub tasks. The best way to identify each is to break it down into its components. Approaching an analysis in any other way may prove frustrating and the output unreliable. In addition, when analyzing multiple jobs, tracking progress in any one of them may be difficult unless a defined, analytical method and taxonomy is established, and systematically applied.

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Read the full July 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

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Proactive Technologies Report – June 2016

Eroding Organizational Capacity: The “Unstructured, DeanHaphazard and Ad Hoc Task Training Effect”

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

If you work long enough for a variety of employers, there is one theme that seems to run common to all – the lack of structure to the all important job-based training that one would expect. Often we are shown our workstation, introduced to the area manager and then we wait for some guidance and training for what is expected of us. Sometimes we wait in vain. Sometimes we are subjected to bits and pieces of information and take it upon ourselves to make sense of them rather than wait.

None of our core skill bases and work-based task mastery history are, alone, sufficient enough to substitute for the need to know the best practices for performing the tasks for which the new employer hired us. If an employer hires a new employee not having a structure to quickly transfer job expertise from the incumbent experts to the new-hire, it is fair to say this runs counter to good business practices and economic principals. Yet unstructured, haphazard and ad hoc task training is the norm.

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Cross-Training Workers After Lean Efforts Builds Capacity Using Existing Staff

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Lean activities to redesign processes for better efficiencies in a department, or between departments, sometimes result in “surplus” workers – partially or in whole units. It is the subjective priority of Lean practitioners since it is a tangible illustration of a successful Lean improvement. Processes that previously needed 3 people to complete may now only need two, if the efficiencies were discovered. So what happens to that one person that has valuable acquired expertise, representing a significant investment by the employer? Would the wise outcome of Lean efforts be to just cut that person from the lineup?

The short answer is most likely not. Any efficiencies and cost savings brought about by the Lean redesign would be offset by the loss of the expertise for which the investment has already been made. Most likely the reason for the Lean was not in reaction to no return on worker investment, but rather a desire to increase the return on worker investment.

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Regional Workforce Development Partnerships That Enhance Economic Development Efforts

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Most area economic development goals are simple; expand the tax base so revenue is available to maintain and sustain the local socio-economic system. Strategies to accomplish this may differ but often include adding to the employment base of the community and/or region, since an effort to expand consumption – mandatory and discretionary – produces a “multiplier effect” as money circulates through the community. This goal can be reached by local and state governments offering tax abatement, cash and/or infrastructure improvements to companies seeking to relocate, or which are in an expansion mode. At least that was the simple vision of economists past.

It is fairly a proven fact, however, that in the past two decades the results of these tactics have become mixed as large corporations became larger and used their clout to seek incentives and cheap labor throughout the world. Commitments to local communities providing the incentives often evaporated faster than the ink on the documents dried, and corporations hopped from state to state, country to country, upsetting the stability of local tax bases, economies, communities and regions.

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Vocational Training in High Schools – A Model the United States Should Revisit and a Lesson From the Past

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

I know this dates me, but in high school in the 1970’s I participated in a very good vocational electronics program. It was 2 ½ years in length and was conducted in addition to the traditional high school curriculum. I felt fortunate to attend and complete the program, as did my friends who were enrolled in electronics and the other craft training programs such as automotive, drafting (precursor to CAD-CAM), metalworking, welding and woodworking. Each one of us in the vocational electronics program went on to achieve higher degrees and/or successful careers after receiving our certificate of completion at graduation.


“…my point is this and begs the question every technical school graduate asks themselves even today, ‘How can I be marginally or completely obsolete 2 weeks after graduation”


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Read the full June 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

Posted in News

Proactive Technologies Report – May 2016

Appreciating the Value of LaborDean

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

For expanding and improving businesses that have the capital for the investment in new equipment or processes, attempting to become or remain competitive, the level of investment is not as important as the return on that investment. This consistent practice of determining where to best place capital for the highest return should apply to labor. What is “paid” for labor is not as relevant as the value it adds to the operation and, ultimately, profit; the return on worker investment.

The lack of appreciation for the difference in “training cost” and “training investment”  is understandable because it is rarely contrasted. The college textbook entitled Financial Accounting: An Introduction to Concepts, Methods and Uses, defines “direct labor cost” as the “Cost of labor (material) applied and assigned directly to a product; contrast this with indirect labor cost.” Indirect labor cost” is defined as, “An indirect cost of labor (material) such as supervisors (supplies).” There is no mention of an expected return on investment. Generations of cost accountants have been taught that there is no good that comes for higher labor costs, which to them is determined by the level of staffing and wage levels. There is no differentiation between strategic labor costs and uncontrolled labor costs.

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Who is Responsible for the Shortage of Skilled Labor?

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Some critics say that employers have repeated the phrase, “we just can’t find skilled workers” to ease their guilt from outsourcing good paying jobs to lower wage labor markets. Some say they say this to justify low wages in the U.S., and some say it is to make the case to congress that the worker visa programs need to be opened up to allow technically skilled foreign workers who are willing to work for a reduced wage enter the labor market. While all of these may be true or could have been true at one time, no one doubts that the affects of the past few decades have greatly disrupted the continuity of a strong U.S. labor force and its ability to advance.

In an article written by Michael Collins for Industry Week last year entitled “Why America Has a Shortage of Skilled Workers,” the author makes a convincing argument that the so-called shortage was in large part self-inflicted. This article should be on every manufacturing operation manager’s, every accounting department manager’s and every corporate executive’s reading list.

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“Realistic Job Previews” Can be a Useful Tool for Measuring a Prospective Employee’s Transferable Task-based Skills       

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.                                              

The hiring process can be difficult for both the employer and the prospective employee. A wrong decision can cost each party a lot of time, money and opportunity. An unwanted outcome based on the employer not providing an accurate picture of the job, work environment and work expected to be performed can be avoided with a “Realistic Job Preview.” (“RJP”).

Wikipedia points out that “Empirical research suggests a fairly small effect size, even for properly designed RJPs (d = .12), with estimates that they can improve job survival rates ranging from 3–10%. For large organizations in retail or transportation that do mass hiring and experience new hire turnover above 200% in a large population, a 3–10% difference can translate to significant monetary savings. Some experts (e.g., Roth; Martin, 1996) estimate that RJPs screen out between 15% and 36% of applicants.

When RJPs are less effective, “According to researchers there are four issues that challenge RJP:

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A Simple Solution to Skill Gaps – New-Hires and Incumbents

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Proactive Technologies, Inc. has worked with many employers over the years, establishing cost-effective, task-based structured on-the-job training programs. For each employer, every effort is made to tailor the worker training system to accommodate the employer’s budget, job classifications (even unique training programs for each job classification in each department), business goals and manage the system through all types of change. Unlike some products or services that require the employer to change practices that work in order to utilize them, the PROTECH© system of managed human resource development  is built around what is working for the employer, incorporating established information such as work processes and specifications, safety standards, quality standards, etc. This approach minimizes the need for the employer’s culture to drastically change what works for them, focusing instead

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Proactive Technologies Report – April 2016

Is an Apprenticeship Without Structured On-The-Job Training an Apprenticeship?Dean

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Career and vocation-focused training is a pivotal point in every current and future worker’s life. This world is overwhelmed by forces that make the effort more difficult for the education and training providers, more urgent and critical for the learner, more scrutinized by the employer and constantly measured against time; how long the training takes (which determines costs) and the relevance of the skills acquired to the targeted job which is always moving to the next level of technology. If the training is not “continuously improved” and maintained to be predominantly current and accurate, the graduate may find that jobs for which the new-found skills were targeted now marginally or, even worse, no longer exist.

In theory, apprenticeships offer a promising approach for traditional trades and crafts. As of 2008, more jobs can be registered as apprenticeships with new models accepted by the U.S. Department of Labor. If the program is based on a sound structure and methodology (one that can work for any type of job classification), an apprenticeship capstone – the job-related, employer-based training – would be maintained current and accurate for at least the employer apprenticeship host. Without this component, an apprenticeship experience may be as hollow as some of the for-profit educational chains which are often criticized for high costs and low placement rates. Read more.



How Start-Ups and Technology Transfer Partnerships Can Benefit From Structured On-The-Job Training

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

In the December, 2105 issue of Proactive Technologies Report article entitled “”Enterprise Expansion/Contraction and Worker Development Standardization” this topic was touched on as it explained the process of standardizing training for expanding, contracting, merging and acquiring enterprises. It discussed how to take inventory of incumbents and new-hires in training, and how to standardize multiple worker development strategies. But what about standardizing tasks that are in design, have just been designed or are evolving in their design? Or the importance of this component in creating an enterprise to perform the tasks meant to lead to profit from an innovation? If the goal is the repeatable high-quality performance of tasks once they have been formalized, then standardizing and documenting the procedural steps is necessary, though often an afterthought.

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Worker “Prior Learning Assessment” – Documenting Cumulative Work Skills and Knowledge Acquisition

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Older workers, boomers, generation X’ers and Millennials, have either encountered or seen the point on the horizon when they may be separated from their job and need to sum up the training, education, skills and experiences of the last years, or lifetime to date, in a one or two page resume as they hunt for the next open position. How does one accurately and adequately summarize 5, 10, or 40 years of experience so the next potential employer can recognize the value and determine the fit to their organization’s needs? Can a person profile their life experiences and skill acquisition in a way that is complete and compelling?

For the last 20 years, many employers have used a “key-word” search filter to scan resumes, disqualifying millions of potential workers for not knowing the right words to match the key-word to explain their experience. Now that a vast majority of employers have realized the deficiencies of resume scanning programs – disqualifying well-qualified candidates for one – they are back to looking for substance in the resume to be substantiated at the interview. Being able to succinctly and completely summarize one’s education, training and work experience is more important than ever as more qualified people compete for fewer quality jobs.

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Piece-Part Incentives Gone Wrong

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Sometimes we are tempted to take the easy route, even though it may cost more in the end, offer much less on the path to the desired outcome or cause us to repeat the effort another way. Shallow analyses and shortcuts often lead to unintended consequences. Changes to weaken metrics to convince us, or others, that progress is better than reality only postpones solutions to the underlying challenge. Too often we are focused on the search for a solution to a symptom and not the problem. The example I am about to share represents all of these tendencies.

As a Quality Control Line Inspector at an aerospace manufacturing facility in my early years, one of my first assignments was to in-process inspect work samples from several rows of NC Lathes, Mills and Grinders. I was assigned there with the implicit instructions to be on the look-out for “problems” identified by management: decreased quality yield, substantially high rates of scrap and rework, which lead to increased worker costs and lower returns. The proposed solution was more rigorous quality inspection of parts in-process before they became a component of an expensive sub-assembly or assembly.

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Read the full April 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

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Proactive Technologies Report – March 2016

Grow Your Own Multi-Craft Maintenance Technicians – Using a “Systems Approach” to TrainingDave Just Head Shot

Dr. Dave Just, MPACT

Since partnering with Proactive Technologies, Inc. in 1994, together we have advocated the use of a “systems approach” to training that includes a combination of related technical instruction and structured on-the-job training to develop multi-craft maintenance technicians, as well as other job classifications, within a company. This is a viable option to paying thousands of dollars per year to employment recruiters to locate these technicians on a nationwide basis…who still need to be trained once hired.

The systems approach to training, if built correctly for your company, forms the infrastructure of a highly effective, low cost apprenticeship (registered or not) model. This model can quickly and cost-effectively produce the multi-craft maintenance technicians you need, who will be qualified to perform the tasks required at your facility. Based on detailed job/task analysis data – collected by Proactive Technologies’ experts using your internal subject matter experts who have the final review – worker development materials are generated by Proactive Technologies’ PROTECH© software system for immediate use. Most importantly, technical support to the project includes project implementation management, so you can focus on running your business. Read article.



Pay-for-Value Employee ProgramsDean

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

Everyone is aware that the United States trade agreements with other countries and regions facilitated a substantial movement of good paying U.S. manufacturing jobs to lower-wage labor markets in other countries. The effect of the loss of middle-income jobs on consumer consumption, and subsequently industrial investment and growth, has been increasing in its significance and the connection to sustained GDP growth has become more evident.

In the short run, a lower-wage workforce reduces direct labor costs and allows corporations to realize higher earnings, but as the lower-wage workers form unions and demand higher pay for their labor those advantages start to diminish. As nations start to codify safety and environmental regulations, the advantages to relocation shrink. After adding in the logistical costs, disjointed supply chain challenges and socio-political instability corporations start to look for even lower-wage labor markets for relocation – a temporary solution.

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Structured On-The-Job Training Programs for Salaried Personnel

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

It is not just the hourly workers that, once hired, run into the “Bob, this is Sally. Why don’t you show her around” form of “training.” In environments where no structure exists to deliberately train hourly workers, supervisors and managers are similarly shown their desk and wished “good luck.”  Yes, the company may offer a series of management courses that explain contemporary management theories, but often the most overlooked training is for the tasks against which performance is ultimately measured.

We frequently hear anecdotal stories about supervisors who are “thrown into the mix” of not only having to lead their workers to measured levels of performance, but concurrently learn their own job from their surroundings as best they can. Other supervisors and managers may be under the same pressure to focus on output, so they may be rarely available to mentor a new manager. Most likely, nothing was ever written down. Even worse, supervisors or managers who are new to the entire operation may have to learn what it is their employees do by observation before they can attempt to lead them to better performance.

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Even Corporate Finance Departments Struggle With the “Skill Gap”

by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.

In a February, 2016 issue CFO Magazine article entitled “All in the Family,” author David McCann discusses the problems facing CFOs regarding “talent management. He identifies four problems they face in looking ahead to the year 2020:

  • 70% of finance positions will experience a change in skill requirements over the next five years. However, HR competency models lag the new skills requirements.
  • Only 36% of employees have a real understanding of internal capabilities. HR can design standard career paths but cannot push employees to the right opportunities.
  • Traditional training only has a 3% impact on finance skill development. Training vendors often fail to apply courses and content to a given team’s day-to-day work.
  • Recruiting is not able to identify who would be a strong financial analyst beyond backgrounds and accreditation, limiting the scope of potential strong ties.
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Read the full March 2016 newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.

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