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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The post The Most Important Manufacturing Skill… Trainability appeared first on Scientific Management Techniques, Inc..

We, at Scientific Management Techniques, decided to pull together data from our forty-six years of mechanical hard skills assessments into a simple but effective chart.  The results demonstrate a clear, steady decline in mechanical troubleshooting skills over the past four and a half decades.  And we don’t need the data to know this, we hear it from the ground every day from our global manufacturing clientele.

Used to collect the data, the Standard Timing Model (STM), our mechanical skills assessment tool, is used to identify mechanical skills and competencies when hiring Maintenance Professionals, Machine Operators, Electro-Mechanical Personnel, Assemblers and Technicians. There are varying degrees of assessment difficulty depending on the position you’re hiring or evaluating.  In addition, the STM is an effective tool for determining mechanical aptitude and determining training needs.

Our assessment programs have been validated thirty-eight times at the Ph.D. level, proving their effectiveness at identifying the most skilled, most capable, and most trainable candidates and incumbents.

The end result is that the manufacturing skills gap is real, and it will continue to significantly impact the bottom line of manufacturers globally.  What has led to this skills gap could be debated at length, but we believe it is critical to move forward with a solution-based skills strategy to embrace your manufacturing workforce pipeline.

If you’d like to know more about the unique, hands-on skills assessment and training solutions we offer, please contact us, we’d welcome the opportunity to customize a program for you and your team.

The post The Manufacturing Skills Gap – A Look at the Hard Data appeared first on Scientific Management Techniques, Inc..

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..

Before we apply a training program, it must be comprised of the following basic elements, all of which are tightly interwoven:

1. Effective – In order for training to be meaningful, it must translate directly to the bottom line. Workers must be able to apply what they learn to their operations, improving productivity.
2. Efficient – Training programs must be designed to be efficient in their time delivery. Taking staff off the production floor while maintaining full operations is challenging.  It is not that programs must be delivered quickly, but the time allotted for training must be maximized.
3. Easy to comprehend – Like any training curriculum, it must be easy for students to understand. None of the above is possible if material cannot be understood and applied.

The above elements can only be achieved if employees are only given the training they need.  A “shotgun” approach, while seemingly easier, will only end up costing more in the long run.  Not only is it more expensive, but employees are more likely to disengage if they feel they are not learning.

At Scientific Management Techniques (SMT), we have developed a unique Demand-Driven Training System that targets training specifically to the needs of the individual based on their real, hard skill levels.  We accomplish this by cataloguing their current skills through our Hands-On Skills Assessment Programs.  These validated assessment machines are designed to evaluate the skill levels of both potential new hires and incumbent employees.

By creating standardized benchmarks and analyzing skill gaps, we then develop a customized curriculum unique to the individual.  Along with a host of pre-determined operational metrics, we close the circle by administering post-training assessments to determine the effectiveness of the training, readjust and reapply.  SMT’s skill training system has been utilized to train thousands of Fortune 500 manufacturing employees in 38 countries.

When done properly, skills training is a fundamental building block for any growth oriented organization.  Not only does it help improve the bottom line, but gives employees a sense of purpose, growth and loyalty integral to any company’s success.

The post A Manufacturing Dilemma – Who Needs What Training? appeared first on Scientific Management Techniques, Inc..

SMT’s programs solve the manufacturing skills shortage; deployed by Fortune 500 Manufacturing organizations in Thirty-Seven countries.

MERRIMACK, N.H., March 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Scientific Management Techniques Inc., the global leader in manufacturing skills assessments and training, today announced that the American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT®) has evaluated and recommended college credit for eight of SMT’s Manufacturing Skill Training courses and four Hands-On Manufacturing Skill Assessments. ACE, the major coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education institutions, seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and to influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives.

“SMT’s Competency-Based programs are proven to solve the acute and growing manufacturing skill shortage across a wide variety of manufacturing platforms,” states company President & CEO Mr. Stephen Berry. “The ACE CREDIT® initiative now provides our manufacturing clients the opportunity to collaborate with local schools and award college credit for the training and assessments being delivered in their facilities. In 2010, we created our education division and the use of our manufacturing skill solutions in formal education is growing rapidly. We are confident that our relationship with the American Council on Education will facilitate wider adoption of our skill solutions in the formal education arena both domestically and internationally.”

ACE CREDIT helps adults gain academic credit for courses and examinations taken outside traditional degree programs. More than 2,000 colleges and universities consider ACE CREDIT® recommendations in determining the applicability of coursework and examination results to their courses and degree programs.

For more than 30 years, colleges and universities have trusted ACE CREDIT® to provide reliable course equivalency information to facilitate their decisions to award academic credit. For more information, visit the ACE CREDIT® website at: www.acenet.edu/credit

“With our global network of certified Assessment Administrators and certified Curriculum Trainers, we will have the opportunity to award college credit to thousands of participants annually,” states Mr. Eric Frohn, SMT’s Director of Education. “Our programs are proven to dramatically improve manufacturing performance and profitability. With the ACE CREDIT initiative, we expect to significantly improve the educational attainment of the manufacturing workforce globally.”

Scientific Management Techniques offers a total of twelve manufacturing skill courses and assessments that have been recommended for college credit by ACE CREDIT. For a complete listing of these courses, please visit: www.acenet.edu/credit

About Scientific Management Techniques

Scientific Management Techniques is the global leader in industrial skills assessments and industrial skills training. SMT’s manufacturing skill solutions are currently deployed in thirty-seven countries. The skills training curriculum trains to the critical skills required to operate, maintain and troubleshoot an industrial facility. Their hands-on manufacturing skills assessment machines and assessment protocols are used in the hiring process to identify and measure industrial skills; Mechanical, Electrical, PLC, CNC and Process Control Skills. Many organizations assess their incumbent workforce and deliver targeted training based on the assessment data.

ACE CREDIT® Initiative: www.Scientific-Management.com/what-sets-us-apart/american-council-education/

Contact: Mr. Evan Barksdale, Senior VP of Client Services

ebarksdale@scientific-management.com

Phone: (603) 421-0222

About ACE

Founded in 1918, ACE is the major coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education institutions, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents and more than 200 related associations nationwide. It provides leadership on key higher education issues and influences public policy through advocacy. For more information, please visit www.acenet.edu or follow ACE on Twitter @ACEducation.

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