IndustryWeek July 25, 2017

For more information on SMT’s manufacturing skill solutions, please click on the links below.

• Company Overview Presentation
• Partial Client List
• Client Testimonials
• 46 year chart of Manufacturing Skill Assessment data
• Training Grid: Outlining targeted skill training based on assessment data
• Six-Page Capabilities Review Assessments & Training

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Any type of workforce skills gap is often the result of many forces that have evolved slowly over time, intertwining to create a complex social, political and economic problem.  Therefore, constructing arguments based on survey data (realistically, only a snapshot based entirely on perception) can be unreliable.  Both sides of the manufacturing skills gap argument have used survey data to frame their conclusions.

In the article, one of the authors even states this himself, “The claims and the data sets that are out there often don’t involve the direct measurement of skills, so people are looking at vacancy rates across the entire economy or all manufacturers,” he said. “There’s very little data in which people go in at the plant level and measure what skills U.S. workers need to have.”

How do you make conclusions about the hard skills of the US manufacturing workforce without actual skill data from US workers?

Since 1971, Scientific Management Techniques has been measuring and recording hard skill data using our Manufacturing Skills Assessment Programs across many manufacturing industries and geographical areas.   SMT’s assessments have been delivered millions of times over the course of this time period.  These programs utilize Validated, Hands-On, Performance-Based Assessment Machines that identify the most skilled, most capable, and most trainable candidates and incumbents.  In other words, our assessment programs directly quantify the hard skill levels of the manufacturing workforce.

From our decades of data, we have seen a sharp decline in overall assessment performance in the last 15 years.  We consistently hear about the struggles of manufacturers to find the right talent, and that is why they come to us for a solution.  Our manufacturing clients (such as Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, Pfizer, Honda) deploy our Skills Assessment and Training Solutions because they know that without them, the impact of the skills gap to their bottom line would be significant enough to stifle productivity and profitability goals.

Clearly, we can assume the skills required by the manufacturing industry has not declined, and with the acceleration of technology and automation, they have in many areas increased.   With labor skills declining and the required skills increasing, a skills gap has developed.

This is not a judgement on the worthiness of the US workforce as one author states in the article.  This is the result of many socio-economic and political forces aligning against the manufacturing industry and the skills needed to see it thrive through the next century.

Of course, the solution required is multi-faceted, and certainly, coordinating supply with demand is at the heart of the issue. Outside of industry, SMT regularly partners with community colleges and workforce development initiatives to align their offerings to this goal.

If you are interested in more information about our Manufacturing Skill Programs or want to discuss skill data for your region or state, please contact me at ebarksdale@scientific-management.com.

The post Manufacturing Skills Gap Doesn’t Exist? It does, and here’s how. appeared first on Scientific Management Techniques, Inc..

One of the most difficult tasks for hiring managers in the industrial space is getting a true read on the hard skill sets of job candidates. Difficulty finding qualified labor to fuel that growth threatens to negatively impact manufacturers well into the next decade.

A candidate can interview well, even post good scores on a pencil & paper test, but without physically putting their troubleshooting skills to the test, there is no real way to know what level of performance you are getting. Scientific Management Techniques, Inc. has developed a series of five, completely unique, validated Assessment Machines for exactly this purpose.

Our most widely used machine is the Standard Timing Model (STM); a mechanical assessment device used by many Fortune 500 manufacturers across the globe for over 40 years. The STM assessment protocol combines a series of standardized faults that the candidate then has to troubleshoot in order to achieve a time. This time can then be compared to others to create a ranking.

Testing Job Candidates

The STM has 3 primary applications when used in the hiring process:

• Maintenance level assessment: Identify and measure a “pre-existing” skill set for an experienced maintenance professional. Someone that will be productive immediately.
• Operator level assessment: Identify and measure a “pre-existing” skill set for an experienced/trained operator.
• Identify mechanical aptitude/instinct: in individuals you know have not been properly trained, or perhaps have never worked in a manufacturing environment. For this we administer the “operator level” assessment but have a different score expectation. Our clients use this capability when they are hiring individuals they know they will need to train. Someone with mechanical aptitude is significantly more trainable than someone with little to zero aptitude.

Testing Employees

Additionally, the STM and other Assessment Machines can help to quantify the skill sets of existing incumbent personnel. This could be done to:

• Deliver highly targeted training. This is essential to maximizing both financial and operational efficiency. The less time spent training, the less time spent away from normal job responsibilities.
• Training Post-Assessment: Gauge the effectiveness of training delivered.
• Target promotions or pay raises to those individuals with the most advanced sets of skills.

Most importantly, the ROI of SMT’s Assessment Program Exceeds 100% the first year of deployment. The assessment program stops the “bad hire”, those individuals that may interview well but you recognize quickly that he or she does not possess the skills they represented.

How many “bad hires” did you have last year? Over the last 5 years? What would the impact have been if all these hires were top performers? Turnover has hefty realized and unrealized costs. That is the impact the assessment program delivers.

SMT has over 35 validation studies and 40+ years of data proving the efficacy of the skills assessment program. It just flat out works, adding performance and profitability for any business unit that has deployed and used it according to our methodology.

There are four other skill assessment machines offered:

• Electrical Skills Test Device (ESTD)
• Programming Logic Control Test Device (PLCTD)
• Computer Numeric Control Test Device (CNC)
• Process Control Test Device (PCTD)

Identifying and measuring skills prior to hire is the single most effective means to insure a quality, highly productive hire in manufacturing.

The post The Standard Timing Model – Quantifying Industrial Skills for Hiring appeared first on Scientific Management Techniques, Inc..

Manufacturing is fundamentally a hands-on, product/good creation enterprise.  It would naturally follow that training, too, should be a hands-on experience in terms of maintenance, production and operations.  Theory and tactical knowledge is important, but only truly learned when applied through practice.  One of our largest and most successful manufacturing clients recently told us, “As we prepared to put this (training) in place, we did some research and found that our mechanics wanted hands-on training, not just to sit in front of a computer or read a book.”

As we all know, training factors such as time and cost play a dominate role, as they always will.  Yet, ROI and training effectiveness should always dictate decision making.

It can be difficult and time consuming to formulate proper evaluation methods of training.  Time is always in limited supply, especially when it takes portions of the incumbent workforce off the floor.

Scientific Management Techniques has devised a unique system of training that utilizes our Hands-On Assessment Machines and Methodology to quantify individual skill sets pre and post-training.  Pre-training assessments allow Fortune 500 manufacturers to customize highly targeted training to the individual, giving them the training they need, and nothing they don’t – minimizing the time they are off the production floor.  For post-training analysis the incumbents are re-assessed to evaluate the effectiveness of the training, and where adjustments can be made.  A virtuous cycle is created.

SMT’s Manufacturing Training Curriculum is 100% demand-driven, based on the ever changing needs of the manufacturing industry over the last 40 years.  Troubleshooting is the heart and soul of the program and utilizes over 200 Hands-On training aids.

The result of these unique assessment and training systems when applied together is powerful.

The post Training Effectiveness in a Manufacturing Environment appeared first on Scientific Management Techniques, Inc..

Here are a few of the key takeaways, and strategies that we at Scientific Management Techniques (SMT) have built into our curriculum delivery:

• Hands-On Training – Manufacturing is a hands-on industry, and people naturally learn best by doing. SMT teaches theory that is then put into practice using over 200 training aids that replicate conditions in industry.  Examples include our newly developed Process Control trainer, Pneumatic and Hydraulic trainers, and a Packaging Machine Simulator.

• Direct Application – Training isn’t effective if it isn’t relevant. Delivering training that is directly tied to an end goal or end process is key to maximizing ROI.  SMT’s training is customized to each and every client utilizing a curriculum that is 100% demand-driven by industry professionals.  By deploying a program such as this, you are in fact utilizing the combined manufacturing expertise of Fortune 500 clients such as Pfizer, Unilever, Medtronic, Proctor & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Diageo, Wrigley, and more.

• Measurement and Continuous Improvement – “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Commonly used, this statement speaks for itself. Developing methods of measurement is one of the most challenging, but one of most fundamentally important aspects of industry training.  Utilizing a pre and post-assessment methodology enables training to be continuously developed and improved upon.

The article then describes some common pitfalls or reasons used to avoid training:

• Fear that trainees will leave
• Failure to create a learning environment
• Failure to reinforce or refresh
• Failure to identify the skills required for equipment use

Clearly, these thoughts and theories should be avoided or discarded as they are detrimental to improving workforce productivity.  If done properly, training is a win-win scenario that creates a sense of worth and loyalty in your employees, while maximizing their utility to the company and improving your bottom line performance.

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