Читать книгу Exploring Advanced Manufacturing Technologies - Steve Krar - Страница 13
Оглавление(Jack Cahall, former Director of Human Resources – Cincinnati Milacron, Inc.)
High technology has arrived on the floor of America’s factories and the growing use of these technologies has led to operational excellence, higher productivity, and higher profits, Fig. 1-3-1. Conventional manufacturing is being rapidly replaced by new, fast-response, customer-focused techniques that maximize the manufacturer’s return on all resources – capital, materials, equipment, facilities, time, and especially human resources.
High technology alone cannot provide all these benefits without a skilled workforce who are continually updated and trained to get the full benefits that each new technology can provide. Therefore, training and managing the workforce should be the greatest focus of any firm wishing to compete and survive in manufacturing. The most important investment a company can make to grow its business and ensure a share of tomorrow’s prosperity, is to provide employees with the opportunity to continually renew and improve their skills. Raising the education and training level of an employee by one year, increases the productivity level by 8.5% in manufacturing. Figure 1-3-2 compares high technology and conventional technology.
Manufacturers have long recognized the importance of skilled and highly motivated workers in preserving and enhancing the capabilities of American industry. The assistance of a skilled and dedicated workforce is essential to derive the greatest benefits of any new technology, without which we cannot survive in the manufacturing world. Technology has given us exceptional opportunities to advance living standards; only our inability or hesitation to use those technologies can hold us back.
We cannot remain the world’s economic leader unless we continuously renew and hone the skills of current and future employees so that they can work successfully in the modern manufacturing environment. Education packs a double economic wallop. First, it helps the economy grow faster. By increasing the skills and knowledge of the workforce, it quickens the pace at which productivity improves. Second, education counteracts the forces of inequality. By enlarging the supply of educated workers and reducing the supply of less educated workers, it narrows the wage gap.
Fig. 1-3-1 The main benefits of advanced manufacturing technology. (Kelmar Associates)
Fig. 1-3-2 A comparison of advanced technology and standard technology. (Kelmar Associates)
STRATEGY IN WORKING WITH PEOPLE
The ability to get along well with people is the prime quality of a good executive. It is a necessity for all if we are to enjoy peace of mind. In manufacturing, transportation, trading, finance, and all other areas of production and commerce, as well as in social life, we deal with people who are filled as we ourselves are with feelings of pride, the ambition to achieve, and the desire for esteem and affection.
Executives cannot do their best work or be successful in business without the cooperation of others. Facing the human equation and solving it satisfactorily are urgent needs imposed upon leaders in all walks of life. The best leaders take many precautions that most people would neglect.
We Are All Different
To understand people, it is important to first recognize two truths: we are all different, and we are all acting and reacting in different environments, Fig. 1-3-3. Only when supervisors realizes this can they begin to understand people by studying them and going out of their way to encourage them to talk about themselves and their interests.
▪No one in authority can ever do too much listening.
•When a person begins to act in a manner that is different from our expectations, we may be shocked or confused.
Fig. 1-3-3 To work well with people, it is important to understand that everyone is different. (US Armed Forces Training Manual)
•By showing a sympathetic interest, demonstrating our need to understand, and by taking steps toward becoming informed of the cause, we may find what is wrong with the person - or with our own interpretation of their actions.
Every human act can be understood when all the facts are known.
▪Be prepared to meet resistance, especially if the attitude to be changed is a deeply-rooted one.
•It is important to offer something more concrete than generalities.
•If these steps are taken to think out and elaborate our thoughts and the plan in clear consistency, we are likely to reap a reward beyond our hopes.
COMMUNICATING IDEAS
To deal with people requires the communication of ideas; this is a two-way project. The executive cannot possibly put across ideas unless they know what ideas are already in the minds of the workers - ideas that may clarify or confuse, help or hinder.
▪Time is needed to communicate ideas and cultivate their growth.
•An effort to rush into decisions may annoy the workers. The miracle is that so many leaders, by taking time and trouble, succeed in having their ideas accepted.
▪The person who always appears to be in a hurry creates a needless handicap.
•Those working with the person may assume that the responsibilities may too big, and in order to decide, they are not going to be rushed into a decision.
THE ART OF PERSUASION
People do not like to feel that they are being told to do something; it is nicer to feel that they are acting on their own ideas, or that they are thoughtfully agreeing with the ideas of someone else. Leaders who are skillful in working with people have learned the method of giving instructions, proving a point, or winning agreement in such a way that those with whom they shares the ideas feel the ideas are their own.
1.The purpose of supervisors should be not to dominate but to inspire, not to strike fear into others but to earn their goodwill, not to gain a point by fighting, but to win support by making people want to get behind the plan.
2.There comes in every person’s life a time to fight, but it must be tested by asking: “Is the cause worthy? Can I not persuade rather than compel? If I do win the point by force, will the response be favorable among those who count in my life?”
3.If there is no other way to achieve a worthwhile purpose, then it is necessary to lay down the law.
▪Those who insist upon fighting their way through life should remember that it is wise to give an opponent a chance to save face than win and make an enemy.
4.Violence in executives makes enemies unless the people surrounding them are very tolerant.
▪Violence takes toll of one’s health, wears one out more quickly than does persuasion, and it is not gratifying to an intelligent person.
STRATEGY IN CRITICISM
Able leaders take pains to spare others humiliation, even when it is necessary to criticize their actions; it is foolish to scold.
1.The purpose of discipline is to prevent repetition of an offense; it should be constructive. Impatient tearing down is likely to breed distaste for necessary regulation.
2.Criticism should begin with praise and honest appreciation of what the person does well, and then go on to point out how this thing can be done better.
▪Often a friendly remark is enough to give honest praise; never reprimand harshly, especially where others may hear, Fig. 1-3-4.
▪This mode of criticizing appeals to a worker because it shows an honest desires to be helpful. It recognizes the truth that no one ever learns anything without making mistakes.
3.Learning to like people and to get along with them by looking for the good in them is a satisfying way of life.
▪If we complain often about our associates or about the firm for which we work, our associates are likely to think the trouble lies with us.
Fig. 1-3-4 Praise softly and never reprimand anyone in front of others. (US Armed Forces Training Manual)
OTHER PEOPLE’S WANTS
One sure way of getting along with people is to satisfy some of their wants. We can be alert to notice and remember their wishes and preferences. Every executive knows that it is not enough to give a person good wages, stable employment, and comfortable working space; more personal needs must be met for the person to be a contented, harmonious, and efficient team member.
1.Important techniques for the one who wishes to work with people are to build a feeling of self-respect, and give them the feeling that they are respected.
2.We can be of greater service to people by detecting their emotional disturbances, quietly learning the cause, and instilling confidence while helping toward good adjustment.
▪When you help others to be right, you are satisfying one of their greatest needs.
3.Look favorably on people’s motives. The unhappiest people are the ones who go through life suspecting everyone of trying to do them some wrong.
▪Friendships do not grow out of suspicion, nor is loyalty in a working organization built up of distrust.
4.There are times to concede and conciliate. A wise leader lets people win a little in discussion of some plan being proposed as long as the main issue remains clear and unspoiled.
5.Sometimes it is wise to retreat and wait for a more favorable time. When deciding to yield, do so with good grace.
PERSONAL RECOGNITION
To enjoy good human relations it is important to recognize the craving of people for personal recognition; they desire and need prestige. By giving them a sense of importance they become attracted to us, arouse their interest in our ideas, and make them eager to help us bring our plans to completion.
1.A true leader does not hog the limelight, but draws fellow workers into it, thus inspiring them with enthusiasm and loyalty.
▪Supervisors who satisfy other people’s need for recognition as individuals will hold them in the palm of their hand.
2.A compliment, particularly on points where a person excels, is an effective way to gain their goodwill.
▪To praise good actions heartily is in some measure to take part in them.
3.If we take the gentle, the favorable, the indulgent side of most questions, we retain our poise under difficult circumstances. Even though we do not win in an argument, we keep our self-respect, our feeling of being on top, and we win the respect of our opponents.
4.When a mistake is made, take the wind out of the opposition’s sails by admitting it quickly and forcefully.
▪Do not leave yourself open to a possible argument; thank the person who brought it to your attention.
Fig. 1-3-5 The four virtues of working with people. (Kelmar Associates)
FOUR VIRTUES
There are many virtues, but four are of them are very important to the person who wishes to live and work successfully with people. They are consistency, sincerity, courtesy, and friendliness, Fig. 1-3-5.
1.We feel more secure in a relationship with consistent people, even though they may be always unreasonably demanding, than we do with those who are reasonable part of the time and unreasonable at other times.
▪We can learn how to deal with people who are consistent, even if they are consistently wrong, but it is very difficult to develop a strategy for the one guided by whims and notions.
2.Sincerity is important, because it deserves friends. It is not possible to talk your way into friendship in a social or business life. In order to win friends, people must recognize you as worthy of their friendship.
▪It is not necessary to agree with people on every detail, or that either party should admit that the other is perfect in wisdom or justice, but each should be sure of the other’s sincerity, so that they feel free to work out the problem for the common good.
3.One who wishes to get along well with people cannot afford to ignore courtesy; that means being considerate of others in little things.
▪To refuse a request gracefully, to show respect for what others revere, to treat even bores with consideration, to be eager to do a favor, to be calm and pleasant under pressure: these are evidences of courtesy.
▪Courtesy is the easiest quality to lift one above the crowd and it wins friends.
▪It is more interesting to out-think an opponent to an idea than to win by using your position as a leader.
4.Friendliness with a person means that you have some particular meaning to that person. It means that even if you are not in a position to benefit people materially, you take steps to oblige them and show your friendly spirit.
SUMMARY
Leadership has been written about for thousands of years, and many books are published every year giving advice on how to become and remain an executive. Yet after all these years no substitute has been found for the four virtues: consistency, sincerity, courtesy, and friendliness.
Some Principles
▪A person who is more interested in the question “Who is right”? than in the question “What is right”? should not be appointed to a supervisory position.
▪The manager, supervisor, foreman, or other person in a position of command over people needs to be careful not to allow personalities to corrupt principles. Sometimes the executive is right; sometimes the worker is right; sometimes both are partly right: but both need to work together in harmony.
▪The person who gets along with people focuses on their strengths and not on their weaknesses. Everyone has problems, the thing is to do something positive to help solve and overcome them.
▪Great people are not quick to take offence and they attribute annoying acts and sayings of others to defective knowledge. They know that many criticisms are made because making them gives the critic a feeling of importance.
▪Self-control is necessary to succeed in working with people. Losing self-control tends to make enemies instead of friends, replaces intellect, and puts a person at a disadvantage. When one person is furious and the other cool, onlookers assume the person keeping their cool is right.
▪People who wish to work in harmony with other others are modest and moderate. They do not exceed what is necessary in discipline or in praise, in strife or in entertainment; there is a certain dignity attached to modesty.
▪Successful human relations are a combination of these virtues and principles, but all must play the game within their own environment and according to their own personal qualities and ideals.
Working and getting along with people consists of using fundamental ideas of kindliness and seeking understanding. It reminds us to allow everyone the right to exist in accordance with the character they have, whatever it turns out to be. It leads us to conform where we cannot alter, and to maintain our serenity when friends and fellow workers seem difficult.
LEADERSHIP
If management is a science, then leadership is an art. Leadership is of spirit and is all about human relationships. It is about people as people, rather than human resources – a terrible management expression. Leadership is an extension of personality and is all about vision, inspiration, encouragement, and motivation.
The need for good management speaks for itself, but why is good leadership so important in this day and age? Management cannot achieve its full potential without good and effective leadership. It is leadership that motivates people to work to be leaders. That is important, because any organization led only at the top and not at all levels will lack vitality and initiative. Anyone who can influence others is a leader.
In any group of two or more persons, the leader (supervisor/manager, etc.) is the influential person who is heading toward a goal and helping a group reach this goal, Fig. 1-3-6. The leader is doing something in relation to others in a work group or in an organization. The nature of that activity varies according to the type of work, the kind of workers in the group, and the nature of the leader. Therefore, leadership is constantly changing due to dynamic, moving, or shifting forces that influence what the leader does and how it is done.
Fig. 1-3-6 A leader must use the talents of everyone in the group to produce a successful end product. (US Armed Forces Training Manual)
WHAT LEADERSHIP IS
Leadership is a combination of persuasion, compulsion, and example that encourages other people to work towards an end enthusiastically, and to the limit of their ability. The manager belongs to one of the world’s scarcest species: the leader. Everyone on the leader’s staff has a practical stake of the most concrete kind in the quality of the leadership. Guiding a group to an understanding of a complex problem and getting its cooperation in working it out, is one of the highest and most rewarding forms of management.
The most important person in relation to the employee is that employee’s supervisor. Supervisor’s have the responsibility to train, motivate, and provide the proper leadership to employees in their department.
Leadership Qualities
Competent supervisors/managers are custodians of the firm’s interests. They have technical qualifications, a broad intellectual outlook, a high sense of honor, and appreciation and understanding of human relationships. They must be clever and superior people, Fig. 1-3-7.
1.Those who have the mental and moral strength required for good leadership have sincere tolerance of other people’s race, color, creed, nationality, and habits.
▪They do not tolerate in themselves such traits as grouchiness, impatience, unpredictable outbursts, arrogance, favoritism, or inconsistency.
2.One of the critical qualifications for leadership is the ability to take substantial risks with reasonable self-control.
▪Managers cannot be submissive, depending upon others to lead them by the hand, or slow, waiting for the whiplash of authority to spur them to action.
3.Supervisors are flexible, examining and re-examining the performance of the department in the light of changing conditions.
▪They understand the essentials, decide what is required and how it will be done, and then see that the workers have a complete understanding of the job.
Fig. 1-3-7 A few of the qualities required for good leadership. (Kelmar Associates)
4.This demands poise, wisdom, agility of mind, courage, energy, determination, and the ability to keep going under frustration and disappointment.
THE ART OF MANAGEMENT
Managers must have constructive imaginations governed by an orderly mind-viewing the possibilities, analyzing the difficulties, and controlling the execution. They are both dreamers to plot a new path and drummers to get the staff marching on it.
Managers must be organizers; good organization is the heart of a successful business operation. It means distributing duties or functions among individual employees in such a way as to operate at high efficiency. It is the manager’s duty to see any difference between a worker’s potential productivity and his/her performance, and to see that the gap is made smaller.
The supervisor who takes an inefficient branch or department and makes it run effectively experiences a big emotional reward. If you accept a position as manager/supervisor, you have accepted responsibility for the successful operation of the branch or department. You have position, prestige, and authority, but also will also be accountable for those under you.
HANDLING PEOPLE
If businesses fail because of poor management, why do managers fail? It is not because of technical ability, but mostly because of lack of skill in working with human beings. The functions of managers are involved with the understanding of the people who work with them. It is at this point that administrative intelligence meets its greatest challenge and earns its greatest rewards.
Four key rules to guide the leader:
▪Treat the employees as human beings.
▪Harness their desires.
▪Teach them how.
▪Criticize constructively
These add up to something big; they show the desire to have all employees reach their greatest potential self-development.
The successful manager has learned to transform power over people into power with people. The challenge is to makes the workers want to do the right thing in the right way for the good of the company. In order for this to be successful, a supervisor must have patience with the inefficiency of those who are trying.
HELP WORKERS TO MAKE GOOD
The attitude toward the staff is the most powerful influence that can be brought into play in controlling their attitude toward you and their jobs. Whenever leaders fail to win the affections of those who are under their command, it can be assured that the fault is mainly in the leader.
1.A great deal can be told about a supervisor by observing those who work in the department.
▪Are they happy in their jobs? Are they ready with a smile? Are they free of job tension? Do they appear to be happy working in this department?
2.Part of the manager’s strategy is giving proper recognition to individual achievements. They praise loudly where others can hear, and blame softly in private.
▪They do not praise without rhyme or reason, or lay it on with a shovel.
3.Keep in mind that all people have hidden abilities. Every so often give workers some job slightly over their head, one at which you know they can succeed with reasonable effort.
4.Be the sort of manager who wants all workers to make good, who helps them make good, and who rejoices when they succeed. The happy worker will be a very productive worker.
5.The manager needs the support of the others in the management group. It is important to avoid intradepartmental jealousies that prevent effective cooperation; talk with other supervisors, not about them.
Give praise and recognition when deserved where others can hear; blame softly in private to avoid humiliation.
SOMETHING ABOUT STATUS
Satisfaction in your work will consist of good supervision directed toward the good of the company and not in having a title.
▪Supervision can be done without showing your authority or developing a superiority complex. Wear the title lightly, but make sure that they know you also have a job to do.
▪How democratic should manager be? They should associate with the workers sometimes, and show courtesy and friendliness, while maintaining the dignity of their position.
▪A good supervisor will allow others to share the limelight, and will delegate responsibility to them.
•Some supervisors make the mistake of thinking that the job will not be done right unless they do it themselves. The failure to assign duties prevents staff from growing.
•Delegation comes easiest to the person who has a strong sense of the end result, sees the objective clearly, and strives to reach it through others while giving a clear lead and firm guidance.
DIALOGUE IS NEEDED
This requires good communication both ways between the supervisor and worker. The effective manager is one with whom employees feel free to discuss important things about their jobs. Workers who have something to say like to think that they will be heard. It confirms the belief that their job is an important part of the organization.
1.Don’t communicate with workers exclusively on a high management plane. Identify the ideas, facts, and changes with the job of each worker and talk over important matters with them.
2.Communication is the key to pleasant departmental operation. What you know about the work that your employees should know but don’t, will damage or slow down work.
▪Tell workers promptly and clearly what they should know, and listen carefully to how they think it may affect their jobs.
3.Carefully explain when it is necessary to introduce a new order of things. Most people are not very successful in carrying out plans that are not clear in their mind.
4.Foresee possible objections and discuss them in your presentation together with the reasons.
▪By looking at the change from the worker’s viewpoint, you see the things that must be cleared away so that they can appreciate the good points of your position.
5.State your thoughts simply and make the instructions as clear as possible. Crises generally develop because someone got the message wrong.
6.If employees make a suggestion, tell them what action has been taken, and why.
▪If their suggestion is not adopted, they will accept that fact with full understanding when the reasons for rejection are clear and sound.
▪The cause of offense is not the rejection of an idea, but the rejection of it without careful consideration and discussion.
Reasonable intelligent people with a common objective, in the presence of the facts, do not have too much trouble coming to an agreement.
ASKING QUESTIONS
It is a sign of strength to admit that you don’t know all the answers. Research is needed in even the most routine-bound office or shop. It should be directed toward building and revising a sound structure so that it leads toward the most efficient discharge of work. Research may consist of only standing at the door, looking at the activity of the staff, and asking: “What is the result of all this activity? Is it all necessary?”
Questions, even though the answers are not readily available, are valuable because they mean the existence of another viewpoint. One great problem of efficient management is believing that things are all right as they are, and should not be changed.
SOLVING PROBLEMS
Supervisors will always have various problems arise and these should be considered challenges that must be understood and resolved. The secret of problem solving is to collect and analyze the facts, separate the essential elements, and put them together in a related and meaningful way. Management and the staff may admire the resulting solution as natural brilliance, but you know that it is the result of thorough and painstaking investigation resulting in evidence considered and plans made.
Keep your thinking organized under pressure. You have to know about pressures and tensions and stresses created by the management job. These can be minimized if you see the problems clear and whole, and tackle them with positive confidence and in an orderly way.
MAINTAINING DISCIPLINE
Discipline in business is a clear-cut responsibility of management. There have to be rules, but they should not be too rigid, cause aggravation, destroy personality, or standardize thought and action.
▪Some supervisors impose strict disciplinary measures, not because they are needed, but because they think it is good for their workers to learn to obey.
▪Be firm in enforcing the principles you believe in, but yield in matters that make no difference to the success of the department.
▪Spend little time in finding fault, and make clear that your aim is designed not only to uncover bad work, but also to bring good work to light.
▪Help the uncertain worker and give encouragement toward improvement. It is more honorable to build people than it is to fire them.
WHAT ABOUT MORALE?
Above all, be fair. Tyranny humiliates those who suffer it and also those who exercise it; it is loaded with dynamite for the supervisor who uses it.
1.Good morale cannot be made compulsory or bought; it must be earned. It is the product of consistently high management character.
Have I done something today deliberately to improve employee relations in my work unit and given the staff a feeling of satisfaction in their work?
2.Morale reflects workers’ emotional stance toward their work. It may be measured by the degree of satisfaction of four basic wants: a sense of security, achievement, justice, and participation.
3.Managers can be considered successful if they answers YES to the following question:
SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY
Supervision is not something that a person learns once and then has the art forever. The explosion of technology and knowledge in the past few years demands that managers/leaders keep learning and relearning. Learn something new every day, even though it may not be in your line of work; it will provide background and room for growth. A well-stored mind makes people capable of doing their thinking.
People will not have the unlimited knowledge for handling all management functions without assistance. They must know, as a primary qualification for management, where to find the answers. Some will be in the firm’s statements of policy, its staff handbook, its rule book, and its periodical memoranda to managers/supervisors
SO THAT IS MANAGEMENT
Management does not consist of having a domineering mind, leading to arbitrary government, but in judgment and reason and knowledge of people. It is among the most interesting occupations in the world, because it challenges the manager to administer the most difficult creatures on earth - men and women. It must be done with fair play, appreciation of people’s problems, and knowledge of business principles and practices - planning, organizing, controlling, and supervising - to mesh these into the company’s interests.
This is not a life of ease, but there is still a connection between effort and reward. Managers are judged by their skill in effective action under varying conditions, avoiding what is unfit as diligently as observing what is suitable. The standard for both management and staff is to do the very best with enthusiasm. That gives zest in living, and makes many things bearable that otherwise would be unendurable.
21st CENTURY NEED
Will there be a need for supervisors in the 21st century? If employees have more knowledge and if there are employee teams, what will supervisors do? Supervisors will still manage by planning, organizing, scheduling, leading, staffing, training, and evaluating. There will be a need for supervisors to investigate, coach, counsel, coordinate, and facilitate. The supervisor has an important role in the development of employees, building teams and motivating employees to see that they are a part of carrying out the company’s mission. The supervisor should have leadership ability and technical knowledge along with training in problem solving, presentation skills, and group dynamics. As automation and technology advance and change, many employees will need more understanding and support.
Ten Commandments of Getting Along With People
1.Keep skid chains on your tongue; always say less than you think. Cultivate a low, persuasive voice; how you say it often counts more than what you say.
2.Make promises sparingly and keep them faithfully, no matter what the cost.
3.Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind and encouraging word to or about somebody.
4.Be interested in others: their goals, work, homes, and families. Let everyone you meet feel they are important.
5.Be cheerful. Don’t burden or depress those around you by dwelling on your troubles and small disappointments.
6.Keep an open mind; discuss, but don’t argue. It is a mark of a superior mind to disagree without being disagreeable.
7.Let your virtues speak for themselves. Refuse to talk about the faults of others, discourage gossip. It is a waste of valuable time and can be destructive and hurtful.
8.Take the feelings of others into consideration. Wit and humor at the expense of another is never worth the pain that may be caused.
9.Do not pay attention to ill-natured remarks about you. Remember the person who carried the message may not be the most accurate reporter. Simply live so that no one will believe the story.
10.Don’t be too anxious about the credit due you, do your best and be patient. Forget about yourself and let others remember. Success is much sweeter that way.
TRAINING - THE KEY TO COMPETITIVENESS
As metalworking technology becomes more sophisticated, the people who use it must become more skilled. In shops across the country, a well-trained workforce has become a priority item. Things started to change in late 1990 with the beginning of the recession when it was realized that U.S. companies were losing out to world competition because of a lack of productivity, skills, and education.
Educators have long criticized manufacturers for a lack of investment in training the workforce to adapt to changes in technology. Few companies have provided direction and support to vocational schools and institutions.
We have also observed that changing machine technology in the workplace requires a parallel change in human technology. The worker who does his or her repetitive job in isolation is gone. The new worker is a team worker who is valued by the employer and works jointly with co-workers to solve production problems, determine schedules, improve quality, and access, enter, and manipulate information on databases. Increasingly, workers are actually being given a major role in determining their own compensation. But many companies have yet to adapt to these changes. To support the widespread application of the new human technology in the work place, training for the human skills needed must be studied and adopted by our educational systems at all levels.
At a time when jobs demand more education and higher skill levels, the United States seems to have been slow in retooling the workforce. Productivity is a major problem according to manufacturers and they mentioned the major cause of this was people. If the problem is people, companies seem to be investing in faster, more technological equipment and not in personnel training. This choice may actually retard productivity if workers lack adequate skills, training, or supervision to use the advanced equipment to its fullest potential. When investing half a million dollars in a machine tool, it seems unwise to turn untrained people loose on it.
DOES TRAINING PAY?
A company that considers making a $5 million investment should not expect untrained people to be able to run the new machine effectively. Proper training can mean the difference between success and failure of any new technology. The training that vendors offer is cost-effective; the price of the machine is only the beginning of the story. Add the cost of downtime and loss of profit through operator problems. Then look at the cost of sending an operator to a course or on-site training.
Even though on-site training means tying up a production machine for days or a week, training at the user’s site is often the best choice. Sometimes a combination of classroom work at the vendor’s center and on-site training works well. In many cases, the staff can be trained to program the equipment, rather than paying the supplier’s team to do it.
Suppose a robotic spot-welding system is being installed, an applications engineer could go to your plant and program all the robots. On the other hand, three operators could go to the vendor’s training center to learn basic programming and stay for a few more days to learn the programming specific to the system. They could then go back to the plant and program all those robots.
A Preference For Knowledge
Progressive companies always stress training, even in times when they do have a lot to spend. They know that the company’s future and their growth depends on the ability to find enough skilled people. They share a belief that human potential should always be developed as much as possible, for the good of the organization and for the good of the individual. Good training is not just a way to develop good people, it is also a way to attract them. Getting the right workers to begin with is critical to their success, so companies place a great deal of emphasis on recruiting.
Educating and training the work force are very important today, mainly because it has been considered unimportant for so long. In a manufacturing assembly line situation, specialization was the key factor in employee utility. The work force was adjusted to the importance of performing one job expertly. Once the job was learned and the product component or assembly line service accommodated, expertise had been achieved and learning was no longer as important.
The key to employee usefulness is versatility and willingness to adapt to rapid changes in job description, skill required, knowledge to assist change, and ability to cope with an agile environment. While the skill level of an employee will not necessarily decrease, the skill level required of the future employee will increase. There will be no comfort level achieved by performing the same job one did the day before. Quite the opposite, the discomfort that accompanies constant change, unchecked by additional training, will lead to performance degradation and employee turnover.
Many firms are dedicating more money to worker training; this demonstrates the sense of long-term employee investment that characterizes some of the most successful companies. Yet, while an increasing number of companies provide their employees with the training and skills necessary to stay competitive, many others are slow to invest in training solutions. They fear loss of production time on the factory floor or the loss of a trained employee to a higher paying job. Traditionally, many have had limited resources to invest in training of any kind.
The irony is that companies that invest in worker training realize many benefits such as: higher productivity, increased profits, higher employee compensation, and better working conditions.
TRAINING SYSTEMS
U.S. industries have made tremendous strides over the past decade to regain world leadership in manufacturing. This was due to the development and expanding use of new technological manufacturing processes. To maintain our present position, we must concentrate on training more of our workers to use this technology to its fullest so that we can continue to enjoy the benefits of high prosperity and the standard of living that it offers.
Some companies see training as a way to generally improve the working environment and the overall quality of their work-forces. According to the Partnership for a Smarter Workforce, companies (especially smaller firms) that institute learning programs for their employees see definite declines in late arrivals, absences, worker compensation, health costs, along with higher morale. The improvement in these areas led to higher productivity and greater employee retention.
A study of entry-level and supervisory employees by some companies showed that newly hired employees involved in workplace learning programs are two-and-one half times more likely to be retrained over the course of a year, than newly-hired employees who do not participate in the training. In addition to empowering retention, the study reported that 75% of participants showed improvements in communications and 55% in safety and quality. Overall, 80% of participants showed improved self-esteem.
You cannot expect HIGH-TECHNOLOGY WORK from LOW-TECHNOLOGY WORKERS.
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Transition to MODERN ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY can only be accomplished with an AGGRESSIVE WORKER TRAINING PROGRAM
To continue to develop new technology and use it wisely, an ever- increasing number of well-educated and capable employees will be required. The future benefits of technology depend on good human resources.
Training Sources
There are many training sources and methods available for the training and retraining of personnel in the use of advanced technological equipment and processes. They include:
▪Technical and community colleges, and trade-training organizations
▪In-house training programs
▪Off-site manufacturer- and vendor-based training
▪Professional organizations such as The Society of Manufacturing Engineers
▪Distance learning courses
▪Virtual or online machine-specific courses
Technical and Community Colleges
▪The nation’s community colleges are dedicated to showing small- to medium-size manufacturers how to recognize the potential of new technologies.
▪They can set up specific courses for manufacturers to be taken on site or given at the manufacturer’s plant.
▪Courses can be at hours suitable to the college and the industry.
In-House Training
Some companies develop their own in-house training solutions to improve the educational level of its workers. They build their own training centers, hire or develop training staffs, or use their own managers and workers as trainers. They offer workers cash incentives for advancement from one level to another, and provide courses in everything from reading to computers. One company has seen the workers achieving record-level productivity.
Some companies use electronic training services to develop their own employee training programs. Firms are also training their workers according to their own unique needs, such as:
▪Basic skills such as communication, team building, reading and essential math
▪Achieving regulatory compliance
▪Process improvement with highly sophisticated machinery
▪Information technology computer training
Involve mechanics, electricians, and others in building the equipment, serving on the implementation team, and developing the training. This type of program will receive positive feedback from the workers. They like the excitement and challenge of working on new technological equipment.
Off-Site Manufacturer and Vendor Courses
Many firms find it makes more sense to purchase training programs from outside, professional sources such as the manufacturer. These include training companies or professional consultants expert in a given field.
▪Machine tool builders with training programs charge about $1000 a week for each trainee.
▪Costs can run $5000 - $6000 a week plus expenses per trainer working at the user’s plant.
▪The vendors that charge far less than their costs see training users of their equipment as an investment.
▪The better a person understands the machine or system, the better it runs and there is less downtime for service calls.
Professional Associations
▪Associations such as the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) place great emphasis on new technologies associated with the metalworking and related industries. This organization, with chapters throughout the world, is in an ideal position to keep its members informed about new technologies that affect manufacturing. They pass this information along through:
▪A monthly magazine always featuring a new technology
▪A central database available online to members
▪A variety of technical seminars given by industry experts, are offered frequently throughout the country
▪The International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) that attracts the world’s leading manufacturers who use this show as an opportunity to introduce new technology
Distance Learning
The growth of distance learning as an employee-training tool in manufacturing has been remarkable. Distance learning is defined by the Distance Learning Network, a nationwide organization committed to advancing distance education, as the ability to teach or communicate with large or small groups of people, spread across a wide geographical area, through the use of single or multiple telecommunications services.
Distance-learning programs are becoming common in manufacturing. These programs are serving smaller companies as well as the needs of educational institutions. More traditional models, such as the use of video links between students and instructors, are expanding to include learning activities, including conferences, specific credit courses and more formal certification and degree programs using multiple institutions.
On-line training and distance learning reflect the creativity of American industry. But one of the most striking developments in the field of training has less to do with a particular kind of training than with the underlying philosophy. Increasingly, the norm is not merely a one-time refresher course but a process of lifelong learning. No longer can a worker learn a basic skill and use it all of his or her working life. Due to the increasingly fast pace of technological change, employees need training on a regular basis to stay current with the latest developments in their fields and to help their companies remain strong in the competitive international marketplace.
To continue growing, it is important to help employees develop new technological skills. It is also important to reduce the time employees spend away from work and ensure that our business grows. A Virtual Learning Center may help meet these goals.
Everyone has great creative potential, and possibly many have been frustrated in the past. The team approach creates an environment for great creativity. Everyone can come up with improvement suggestions.
For more information on MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES see the Acknowledgement section for the Websites of an industry/organization listed.
