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Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing

They are talking about this topic: Needs & Challenges in Continuing Education

 

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The occupation-specific skills in which employers frequently train incumbents include computer skills, math and reading skills, electronic and automated controls, safety awareness, backing technology, mold builders, and welding.

Employer Quote Region
"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. So, we do have some customized training.

Employer 2: And if we hire someone that has the skills, shows up for work, and has potential—well, if we need to teach them basic math, then we teach them basic math."		 Central
"For our folks, even math classes would be a big help. Sometimes, if you're talking to a technician and somebody pulls out some numbers that are fractions—one day, when this happened—a technician said to me, 'No, I was never very good with fractions.'" Central
"A large number of our associates are lacking in computer skills. We deal a lot with computers. Everything from things as simple as starting up the computer, and signing on as a user, things like that. And I'm talking about some of the longer-term people, the people who've been here for 30-plus years. They don't have the computer skills that someone's six-year-old kid might have. This is particularly true of the assemblers." Central
"We have a program where our equipment maintenance techs are taking a backing technology program, so that helps out in the equipment maintenance tech area." Metro
"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 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. 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 used to use all manual books, and now we're all electronic. So, now, everybody on the assembly line has to go on a computer. It was challenging—especially for the older people who didn't have a care in the world for a computer and never wanted one, and all the sudden they have to log onto one, they have to sign things off, and they have to look things up. It was a challenge, and it took a little bit of getting used to. But once they got shown through it a few times, they were able to adapt and feel more comfortable with it, instead of it being this unknown monster." Northwest
"We get a lot of relevant robot data day-to-day off our system; it's kind of like a data monitor. And we've really pushed responsibility on some positions to take ownership of that data. So, they need to understand how the data is trending. They need to understand how to process it, and react to it. And that learning curve has been a pretty big leap for some people that we've had internally in the group. They might have the basic—just the barebones like Word and Excel and stuff—but they start using PowerPoint and exporting data files so that they can compile it in Excel and things like that. It was tricky for some of the individuals. We spent a lot of time not only on how to get the data, but also how to use it, read it, and interact with it, so they can make sound decisions for the manufacturing environment." Northwest
"For our entry-level operators, we're finding our biggest hurdle in the skill level is just the candidate being able to complete the application one hundred percent. Some can't even complete the application.

All of our employee resources are online, and our applications are online. We have people that are talking to the mouse and tapping the computer screen or double-clicking the wrong thing. So, at that level, there are two groups. There are those new, young people that are experts at it because they've got a Smartphone, an iPad, and an iPod. But then there are employees that have been at our company for 30 years, and they don't even want to walk within 50 feet of the computer station."		 Northwest
"I'm a broken record, but Excel is a huge thing for us. Once they're in the business, and they're involved in sales, and they want to move to another department—many of the other areas require macros, pivot tables, just basic Excel skills. And we're bringing [MnSCU college] in to do training on that in increments. The incumbent workforce, once they move into other positions that require business analysis or metrics analysis, they're going to have to use Excel and possibly other tools, too. I know there are other tools, but Excel is kind of the leading one for us." Northwest
"We have very long-tenured employees at our company. The average is about 15 or 16 years. So, with our maintenance department, we've got folks that really have none of the electronic and automated controls background. They're used to older machines where you change the bearings and do those types of things. And now you bring in a new million-dollar machine, and it is 100 percent computer operated with all the bells and whistles. When it goes down, and they're sent to fix it, they don't know where to start. So, we've got various levels of skill sets in our maintenance department. But the ideal world would be if some machine goes down—or there is a call for help—that they can troubleshoot the electronic components, the electrical side of it, as well as the mechanical side of it. And be able to take care of the issue. But a lot of those folks are missing those upper-end skills right now." Northwest
"Really quality people, maybe they've been a mail carrier for years, and they retire from that job, and they come over here and think, 'Well, I've lived in the area for years. I've got a good personality. I can do this.' And they just can't get through the entry path, because they can't navigate the computer. They get very discouraged. So, that is just one profile of an older-than-average candidate. That is maybe more true for the older employees than the brand-new out of high school employees. Because we are seeing the computer savvy-ness from the Apple platform coming out of our schools, and this is really good. But I think maybe the middle-aged folks, they've got the IQ, but they just can't navigate. And it just doesn't work well for our environment." Northwest
"You have somebody that has a good IQ, but they've never been exposed to basic computer skills. They get about four weeks into training, and they get extremely frustrated that they can't navigate the system. And that is one thing that we've talked about—how do we continue to spend work time? Because sometimes we spend more work time just helping people navigate computer systems than we do training them to fulfill the roles that they're in." 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 helped the college do some on-the-floor training with the welders. And we set up a welding testing program here with some testing, things like that. 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 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
"And that's where internal training is helpful. To make sure our employees understand how they have to put the information into the system. And, company-wide, problem-solving is probably the largest single thing." Northwest
"Computer skills would be in there as well." Northwest
"I think the statewide statistic is about 40 percent coming in need remedial help in math and writing and reading. And if they don't want to do that, it's not fair to us." Southeast
"There are some people that I'm promoting that do not have the fundamental critical-thinking skills. To be able to think their way around a problem, to fix their machine electronically, to run it. There are people that don't have the fundamental computer skills to be able to run a computer. So, yes, I need people with critical-thinking skills and basic computer skills." Southwest
"I have directed individuals to them for math help. We have adult basic education here in town. Yeah, we send them to class." Southwest