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Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing

They are talking about this topic: Current Continuing Education

 

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The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers use a variety of modalities for incumbent training. The majority use vendors or outside consultants for on-site training; others use online tools. A fair number of organizations have worked with local technical schools and community colleges to develop customized certificate programs that are taught on-site.

Employer Quote Region
"We do different programs to help with utilizing Excel or just trouble-shooting, things like that, just minor things, too. With operating systems and things, it's a little bit more difficult. Learning something new and not really having a lot of the basic skills is tough on some people. It takes longer and so productivity times vary, too—like when you're doing more clicks on the computer than you actually need to. Things like that." Central
"When we come into the issue of increasing the skills of the shop people, at any particular time, it may just be one or two people with a certain need, so we'll teach them internally. If we had a larger group, it would be something that I might consider talking to the technical college about. It just doesn't make sense to send a person down for something that we can handle internally. So, we've been able to take our people in the shop and work on areas where we feel they need additional training, maybe on new piece of equipment which requires a new skill. So, yeah, we do the training ourselves. And sometimes, the manufacturers or the people you bought the equipment from can provide that technical knowledge or training, so you'll do it with one or two people. With such a low number of people, it's the only practical way that we see to do it." Central
"Employer 1: We're partnered with [MnSCU college] and a group of other manufacturers right now. And we actually have training available on-site through a video system that we use. It's customized training and we've had that for two years. For us, it's been the greatest thing in the world because, rather than having to send my employees off somewhere, they just come up to the conference room and they can participate in training, interact with other businesses in the area, as well as the instructors. And we think that is fabulous. And it's ongoing. We get a new calendar of courses that are available every quarter. As a participant in this group, we've been able to go to [MnSCU college] and say, 'This is an area where we feel like we need something,' and the next thing we know they've developed a training. And it's been fantastic.

Employer 2: The best thing about it is—as a group—we can look at what our needs are, and then we can basically tailor classes right to the group that would require it. So, in effect, we're sharing the cost of the program with other employers, yet we do not have send employees out to [MnSCU college] or wherever. They can just walk into the conference room, take the class, and walk out. It truly is phenomenal, and I think it offers some pretty good training opportunities in the future if we can get it expanded. Three of us here are all participating in that now. And it is working really well.

Employer 3: Our company is also participating in that and we run a 24/7 operation up there. So, it's been nice to have people—either during their shift or coming off shift—take the training right on the job site."		 Central
"Question: How do you teach them? Do you do it in-house? Do you send them to class?

Employer 1: We were lucky enough to develop a customized training program. So, we do have basic math that we can teach people here if we need to do that. We do have some customized training.

Employer 2: Customized training, and then we can work with [MnSCU college] on some of those customized things. And if we get a new employee that has the skills, and shows up for work, and has potential—if we need to teach that person basic math, then we teach them basic math."		 Central
"Well, we're also using some online stuff as far as ASQ. They have some good online training programs. And we've developed some internal classes, especially around the exclusion operation, which is a little unique, and it's sometimes difficult to find folks and training available that fits what we try to make there. And, so, sometimes we have to do some internal development, too." Central
"Employer 1: We are in the process of having an apprenticeship program with the state's Department of Labor and the NIMS program, so that we can help get formulized training of a credentialed sort within the national standards across the United States here for entry-level machinists. And then our goal, our intention, is to help support carrying that on to a higher level. So, if it's Level 1 going on to Level 2 or Level 3, as NIMS advances their standards. That's what our intentions are for now—to help support it.

Employer 2: And some of the modules are an hour-and-a-half long. It looks like a really robust, good system. But the goal is that some of our machinists—the ones that we've had for some time—will be the trainers and help carry on that torch, if you will.

Employer 1: But it's all online, which means you don't get the live teacher like you do with the [MnSCU college]. So, there might be some down side. I do not know. We were just looking into it. There's literally dozens and dozens of classes. And what you'll do is—you'll assess the needs of each individual machinist or whatever person, and then you can pick the specific modules that the person needs—say this person needs 12 modules over the next couple of years. They get certificates. They get raises as they get to a certain level, that sort of thing. So, it's much more tailored individually. It's very specific.

Employer 2: That's a good example because we've had conversations about customer training, and we've had clients who will say, 'Well, I don't have 30 people that need training on a certain topic. I have three people who need this topic, and two people who need this other topic.' So, that's maybe a good model.

Employer 1: It helps us support our training numbers, and advancing them, and showing the return on investment—which we all need to do with those certifications. So, that's another approach."		 Central
"When 'Company X' opened, I conducted the customized training for the company through the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) and [MnSCU college]. And it was a great program because we trained all their new hires. We continue to do training, a form of basic training, through customized training, utilizing that and it's worked out real well. We also have very open communications. We pair our employees with others to try to help build morale and everything, but there are still some issues of—and I'll go back to the previous topic—customized training to improve our employees." Northeast
"Question: In terms of assessment testing, it seems a lot of employers do that to get a baseline to see where basic skills—like math skills—are. And it sounds like you do some assessment testing. So, for math, do you send them to a higher education institution for remedial math or do you handle that internally?

Employer: We actually use the workforce education for that. They have some particularly good testing assessments that can do some of that for us."		 Northeast
"To speak to the issue of specializing and customizing some of the training, I was part of the group that focused on [MnSCU college's] re-do of their machine technology in advanced aviation. It was focused on the aviation industry in this region. And it included more quality control, programming, and set-up of large production runs versus job shop. But that's available to anyone that has sufficient demand of numbers for the customized training—that they can focus on one company to develop a program to serve the needs of your employees. So, I think if there's enough numbers they're certainly open to listening, to including your needs in their training programs. And, too, you could look at a customized training program specifically for your company or your industry—if participants would be prepared when they completed the training." Northeast
"We actually have an online company tool. There are more than 700 courses in a variety of categories, and all of our employees have an ID to get into the system. Typically, they take about 35 to 45 minutes per session and then, following that, there's a test and you're required to reach a 70 percentile. Once you do that, it gets logged into your training record. So, there's a lot of that available. On our management end, you're required to complete 'X' number of those credits every year.

When it comes to hazardous materials and things like that, they have to use that system for training. A lot of the topics cover the environmental type things and safety. So, all of our employees are trained on that. And, in the mining industry, we use the service industry a lot to provide the training for the equipment we have on-property, as well as to customize training at the colleges. We've actually trained up people on the payroll, and we call it Train the Trainer. They go to customized trainer training. They become the trainer, and then they can do a lot of the internal training throughout the year, on property."		 Northeast
"We have a team of technical communicators at our organization and we use them—not only to work with our customers, but also to train our technicians. This includes the new ones and it includes the ones that we've had around a while as well. So, we have our own internal structure." Northeast
"There are two other really good online training pieces that are helpful to us. One is, if you haven't looked at it, you should look at it, it's Tooling U. It offers a number of online courses, including quality, engaging, CNC, safety, etcetera. What it does—it gives a very good opportunity to train you and then it does a brief post-test. But, once again, you really need to follow that up with allocation. It's one thing to see how something is done, how will the machiner engage, but to apply it is mission critical. Another one that we're just now getting involved with—our local college is using it, so they told us about it—is Amatrol. They offer curriculum and allocation and online training." Northeast
"You had that at the beginning of the recession—we had customized training. Trainers came to our facility on multiple shifts to train in skill sets that we needed. And when some of those students were laid off because of the recession, they continued to go to the training. So, they're eager to participate in upgrading their skills even when they don't have a job." Northeast
"Question: Is there a role for the educational institutions to help ensure candidates are better prepared for these positions?

Employer 1: Math, calipers, measuring equipment.

Employer 2: There are some high schools with machine trades that would help us in that area, but we're pretty reliant on our own internal training. I don't really know what a two-year school could do for us in that area."		 Northwest
"We work with the college on some welding testing. We had some issues with quality welds on our metal framework around the mold, breaking and things like that. So, we help the college do some on-the-floor training with the welders, and we set up a welding testing program here. So, we've used the college for that and now we're working with the College of Welding. So, we've dealt with it a little bit with our CNC molds, and they're doing some testing on some of that specialized welding." Northwest
"We currently go through the Employer's Association of the Cities. I've been through several of their training groups. And if, locally, we could get that skill here, it would be a benefit to all of us." Northwest
"We found a need for blueprint reading classes, and we didn't have the time or resources to pull that together and teach it on-site. So, we worked with a welding instructor from [MnSCU college]. And we co-developed a curriculum where he came on-site, and helped train for a couple of sessions. And we grabbed that—it was kind of 'train the trainer' as we were getting our people up to speed. And now some of our supervisors and some of our technicians do help train on-site. So, that was a collaborative effort for a need that we had, and we developed that together, and now we use that on our own." Northwest
"Internal training. We do a lot of internal training." Northwest
"We find that additional math—through customized training—works for us. A real common one is geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. That's another area that needs constant refreshing to keep people in tune to what's being explained on a drawing or print. So, we've used customized training in both of those areas pretty successfully, and it's an ongoing thing for us. We may do GDTs one year, and then the next year we may do some level of math, and the next year a higher level of GDT, and then a different level of math. We alternate some of that." Northwest
"We've had on-site college programs for twelve years now, associate degrees and bachelor degrees. But, over the last few years, we've really looked at more of the certificate pieces—those kinds of programs that you can bring in. And we worked with [MnSCU college] and brought in a program last year that we developed with them. A diploma program they did in a year. They did credits to really target those areas." Northwest
"We have a continuous improvement certificate. We offer semester-based classes on-site at our company. This leads to a 16-credit certificate." Northwest
"We have continuous improvement. We get workers together and we work on problem-solving skills, and we do that internally. And the solution/benefits ends two points directed to improvement and a specific activity. You learn a skill, if you will, and problem-solving that is related to an issue in the business, and that's where we wind up training. We're working on getting a hundred people involved in the process this year." Southeast
"We bring in leadership training for people to accept roles—manufacturing roles of higher pay and supervision." Southeast
"So you encourage people to—this is like a step up. They'll take these classes, and then they'll have additional responsibility." Southeast
"A few years ago we partnered with [MnSCU college]. And, we actually started two programs. One where the instructors come to our campus to teach the general education associate's degree program, and then another one specifically for supervisor management. It all takes place after shift hours, but they do still come on-site. We've got enough team members through at least the rest of this year, and then we'll have to recruit to see if there's going to be more people interested internally. And most of that is tuition reimbursement." Southeast
"We would send them to training at [a MnSCU college] if they showed interest. I don't think that's something we would suggest. Well, maybe in their situation, maybe we could send them to a welding course at CTC because we really need welders. We do have tuition reimbursement programs." Southeast
"We do a lot of stuff in-house, as far as the variety of work that they're working on. And then we've brought in outside consultants." Southeast
"We send our mechanics to schooling, and then we do a week-long canning school. They have them all across the country, and they're typically down at universities. And then we also have vendors. I would say it's a Multi-Vac machine and they have a school, you know, and we'll send them there for a couple of days or whatever to learn more about the equipment that we use. So, yeah, we do invest in our current employees by sending them off to school." Southeast
"They're all selling stuff. They'll just come in, like our cutting tool people come in, and do seminars on tool life and different things like that. Machinery people will come in and do training with my engineers, but they're not coming in and training my shop employees. We don't have the time or the money for that because that's not free." Southeast
"The education system helps us, so everything is internal training. It's all on the job. It's all internal." Southeast
"It's mostly direct contract with vendors. You wouldn't send them to [MnSCU college] for something necessarily." Southeast
"I said the same thing—you can't teach some of these skills online. But, it's pretty amazing to see it work, too." Southwest
"I don't know if it's something that they could simply watch online and learn." Southwest
"I think you should look at what Tooling U has to offer because that's an online course, and it's not going to take a whole day of production out of your schedule. It may take you an hour to watch a class, but you visit one piece of something." Southwest
"Employer: We've done some Tooling U, although we haven't done that for a while.

Question: So, it's a class?

Employer: Yeah, but it is online. I mean, it's purchased. So, engineers can do continued education with it."		 Southwest
"We're going to use company-specific training programs, which are online. It's just easy to revisit with the group and stop as you need to." Southwest
"We use Universal Class which is an online group of courses. You go in, and you buy credits. So, if somebody needs to have an update—whether it's an Excel update or something else—you can go in and purchase that class. And they take it online while at work. They can work through it at their own pace." Southwest
"We've done custom training. Now, once again, [MnSCU college] put together a PLC class for us—and pneumatics and hydraulics classes for us. Also, you get a lot of vendors that sell you a lot of things, and they're happy to come and put on seminars for you. You've got to screen through those a little bit because they can be more of a sales presentation than anything else, but we do glean a lot of technical information from them. And another thing that we do is—it's a sharing thing we do once a month. Because we've got 650 employees, we have a lot of different pieces of equipment, and we have guys focused in different areas. Well, this month, the two guys that focus in a certain area are going to put on a seminar for everybody else, so they learn some things about this area of the plant." Southwest
"Employer 1: I'd like to give a shout out to the respondent over here who helped develop a program called Fit. It's a maintenance training program; it's a certificate. 180 hours?

Employer 2: Oh, it's more than that.

Employer 1: It's about a year, nine months to a year. And 'Company X' helped build it. We've spent a lot of time working on it. It's a wonderful program, and if I could get 30 people into that Fit class every year, I'd interview every single one of them. Most of my current maintenance technicians have gone through it, and the ones that have are my best maintenance technicians."		 Southwest