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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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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