Historically, the manufacturing worker has been a life long member of the team, who may start their career in their early 20's and remain with the plant through retirement. They made a good living, while working hard under tough environments.
Currently, under the pressures of a down economy and oversees competition, the UAW has made drastic concessions in wage and retirement. The hourly wage is around $12/hr for the average production worker, which puts this job on the same level as other career options. Overall, the job is not as attractive to the younger workforce that it was in the past.
How does this impact the workforce?
It is anticipated that the attrition rate of this generation of manufacturing worker will rapidly increase. Any HR Manager knows that great turnover will require a great deal of training.
For those not familiar with the manufacturing industry, poorly trained workers equals two things:
- Scrapped product --- which equates to lost money
- Injuries, which causes lost time and double-paying shifts, and equates to lost money
Members of the manufacturing industry should understand that a standardized approach to a curriculum can assist in rapidly reducing the training time of these new workers. A standardized approach, using technology-based solutions, can reduce their training time even more. Additionally, in a new world of cross-trained workers, it is important to know if individuals have had the proper training in an instant...technology allows for this.
Additional drivers are important for manufacturing to embrace e-learning tools like no other time in history:
- Available anytime, anywhere
- Cost savings vs. traditional training cycle
- Allows for self-paced learning
- Provides just-in-time learning
- Ease-of-use
- Content can be updated easily
- Fast distribution
- Improves instructor availability
- Reduces overhead training costs
The following are additional drivers that lead organizations toward e-learning solutions.
Accelerate new hires into performance
Senior stakeholders understand new hires are an opportunity cost. Time to understand and time to perform describes a period when wage, benefit, overhead and learning costs are going out of the organization with no opportunity for generating income. Even a reduction of 4 or 6 weeks in time to perform will create dramatic savings when annualized across all new hires. Learning managers can use e-learning and technology to assess the knowledge and learning paths to close the gaps. Customized self-paced learning means new hires with previous industry experience or who are fast learners aren’t held back by slower learners, or inconsistent trainers. When technology is utilized in a blended approach, general courses can be cover with e-learning prior to workers reaching their work area. The base knowledge will give the workers an edge as they are taught more applied techniques during OJT. Policies may be put into place to have new employees successfully complete the curriculum before they are placed into their position. An incentive plan can be implemented that encourages a reduced amount of time it takes to complete the training.
Career Paths
No enterprise can compete effectively without the best people. In an up cycle, enterprises need to compete for them. A down cycle, when people with talent are more readily available, gives clever organizations the opportunity to strengthen their teams in preparation for the next up cycle. In both cycles, unequivocal management commitment to a blended, standardized learning initiative can help attract the best people; a program of continuous learning can help retain them.
Certification / Recert
In general, more and more employees have to meet certification and compliance requirements before they can carry out their responsibilities. Technology can deliver certification, compliance learning, and evaluation effectively in both cost and time. It can automate certification tracking and compliance management by maintaining up-to-date records for employees and managers. These records enable stakeholders and auditors to view, at a glance, the current compliance requirements of an individual or group.
Save Costs
Cost savings is an important driver for e-learning and technology. What learning and HR managers benefit most from are savings in delivery costs through scalability. Once a self-paced e-learning program has been developed, there is virtually no difference in the cost of delivering it to 100, 1,000, or even 10,000 learners. Contrast that with classroom or OJT methods, and the costs are dramatic.
Increase Learning Effectiveness
E-learning and technology delivers more learning in less time. Organizations that implement e-learning often benefit from a 30-60 effect: either employees learn 30% to 60% more in a comparable period of time – or they learn the same but in 30% to 60% less time. A reduction in learning time no only means more effective learning, but it also produces a reduction in opportunity costs.
Support Self-Paced Learning
E-learning and technology supports learning that is self-initiated, self-directed, and self-paced. Learning managers understand that self-paced learning is more effective learning. Learners do not have to sit through content they already know. Fast learners are not held back by slow classes. Slower learners are not rushed along by faster learners. Everyone has an opportunity to learn common knowledge at the pace that best suits the individual. Self-paced learning also means learners are not tied to centrally arranged schedule that may not be conducive to the individual or the production schedule.
Centralized Learning Management
While e-learning may decentralize learning, it centralizes learning management to provide learning managers with flexible control over global and local content, budget, and delivery. Costs and resources can be saved by eliminating learning initiatives duplicated in individual business units.
Measure and Manage Knowledge
The lifecycle of a competency in the knowledge economy is often measured in months where once it was measured in years, even decades. If competencies and skills are redefined continuously, skills and performance gaps need to be measured continuously. E-learning and technology provide learning managers with tools to measure and manage continuously – and to close gaps that appear with learning customized (1) at the curriculum level for specific classifications, and (2) at the learning path level for individual learners. As a result, learners benefit from relevant content delivered just-in-time.
Deliver Quality Content
When an organization sends a signal to its employees that learning is a critical part of what they do, expectations about the quality of learning content naturally increase. If an organization really is committed to transforming the way the workforce learns, the signal needs to be backed up with high-quality learner-centric content. E-learning and technology provides learning managers with tools and processes to develop and deliver learning that engages and motivates employees because it is fresh, rich, relevant, granular, and available just when it is needed.
Automate Housekeeping
E-learning and technology automates the recording of (1) learner and course registration, (2) individual learners’ progress through their learning path and specific courses, (3) assessment results, (4) certification and compliance commencement and expiration dates, (5) course usage levels, (6) the number of concurrent users in the system throughout the day. Not only does automation reduce the administrative overheads, the information that results can help managers plan for system upgrades and make a valuable contribution to aspects of the evaluation process, including ROI.
E-learning will provide a vehicle to retain the knowledge of the existing workforce before groups becomes eligible to retire. Technology can not only be justified for initial training but is also a key in providing a system which workers can access for just-in-time information at the moment of need. This gives the worker access to information, such as schematics, JSAs, SOPs, troubleshooting techniques, and emergency procedures at their fingertips.
In this new era of a "revolving door" workforce, organizations must make preparations to rapidly train employees with the goal to keep them safe and the company financial stable.
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