Manufacturers' training challenges and how GP Strategies can help; $GPX
In the US today, manufacturers are facing a three-fold challenge: the need for ready pool workers, a poor outlook for future skilled workers, and an economy no longer based on manufacturing.
Company workforces are aging as baby boomers get older and begin to retire. However, manufacturers lack a ready pool of skilled workers to replace them. As a developed country, the US has experienced a socioeconomic shift: Parents don’t want their children to become skilled workers; they want their children to focus on vocations such as doctors, lawyers, and executives. What’s more, the economy itself has changed. We no longer have a manufacturing-oriented economy; instead, we have a service-oriented economy, meaning that we have shifted our skilled training offshore.
In a video entitled Bridging the Skills Gap in Today’s Economy, Eric Rodgers of GP Strategies discusses these challenges as well as how to address them. He explains that today’s workers need four types of knowledge, each one building on the one before it:
¦Core Competencies
¦Fundamentals
¦Applied Fundamentals
¦Equipment-Specific Training (this part has to be hands-on)
Rodgers then poses the question, “Where are companies going to find this kind of talent pool?” It’s a difficult question. Traditionally, manufacturers could rely on the military and community colleges to produce a ready pool of skilled workers, but the military pool is drying up and community colleges can no longer keep up with the complex processes that today’s workers need to perform to operate a modern piece of machinery.
The answer: They’re going to have to reach in-house, internalize their training programs, and build from within.
Fortunately, there are training experts available to help. GP Strategies has been focusing primarily on custom training since 1966. You simply won’t find another provider who does it better or with more consistent success than GP Strategies.
The company offers the flexibility of custom, tailored, and off-the-shelf technical training courses and courseware. They design, develop, deliver, and support every type of training modality, from instructor-led courses and hands-on labs to web-based training (WBT), simulation, on-the-job training, and blended solutions. They can even deliver instructor-led courses at your site or a mutually agreed upon alternative.
GP Strategies also provides training program support based on your site, your personnel, and your equipment. They can conduct training analysis, needs assessments, gap assessments, training center design and build-out, productivity simulation, and even a planning and scheduling game called Outage! And if you require technical documentation development services, their experienced professionals deliver a wide range, including operations, maintenance, compliance, and emergency management process and procedure requirements. Read more at GPStrategies.com.
