INDUSTRIAL TRAINING TODAY

Working in industry in 2019, in addition to job specific requirements, calls for a solid background in learning fundamentals such as safety, work practice, tool use, computer familiarity, mathematics, plus reading and writing.  These are all important elements in any modern industrial training program and particularly for those employees working in electrical maintenance, mechanical maintenance, operations, and instrumentation. 

And, while the number of industrial workers has declined, the United States will continue to rely on manufacturing and process activities for the foreseeable future. 

However, changes in American business are resulting in an increase in the skills required of our modern industrial workforce.

In 1950, 80% of all jobs in the United States were classified as unskilled.  Today, 85% of jobs are classified as skilled, meaning that the importance of effective Industrial Skills Training is more critical than ever before.

Matthew Bell’s article, “3 Reasons Technical Skills Training Is The Best Investment To Make In Your Team” in eLEARNING INDUSTRY highlights one that addresses our subject:

“  .  .  . Here’s why technical skills training is crucial for your team’s development:  .  .  .

Provide opportunities for internal mobility and bring development in-house:  The hardest positions to recruit for are technical – and that outlook isn’t changing anytime soon. By 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there will be a gap between the number of open technical positions and skilled workers able to fill them of nearly 1.4 million. New hires can be risky, too – they need training, on-boarding, and adjustment periods, and even then they may not end up being a good cultural fit. Why not create your own tech talent? TechCrunch has suggested that the specific technical skills and experience required by companies may need to be addressed by the companies themselves. By nurturing your own talent, you get high-skilled employees with experience specific to your needs and company, and your new developer gets a great new job without having to change companies. Plus, promoting current employees to new technical roles saves you money in recruitment costs, loss of productivity and salary, and they are already familiar with and loyal to the company. Companies that create internal hiring programs see an increase in employee career satisfaction and retention – always a good thing.  .  .  .”

Not only is it vital to our nation’s economic health — to be truly effective, the training must be provided in the learning culture of the modern workforce — a workforce that has cultivated many of their learning habits from smartphones, tablets, computers, and television.  Much of the information they acquire today comes from what they see and hear rather than from what they read in print.

Smart corporations and organizations are learning to adapt to that new learning culture and are providing their employees with multi-sensory media training that can be successfully delivered via any, and all, delivery devices.  That’s where investment reaps rich rewards today.

The training that returns the greatest value to both the workers and their employers is the training that incorporates video, graphic animations, simulations, gaming and optional full audio combined with sophisticated instructional design — all necessary in today’s world in which nearly 40% of our workforce does not successfully comprehend anything written beyond a 4th grade reading level.

We must recognize that an increasing emphasis on Industrial Skills Training is in our best interest —- but, from a new, and more enlightened, direction!

More on Wednesday  –  –  –

  — Bill Walton, co-Founder, ITC Learning
January 7, 2019
www.itclearning.com/blog/  (Mondays & Wednesdays)

  “THE WORLD RELIES ON THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”

 (This is a personal blog.  Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal and belong solely to the blog owner, jhbillwalton@gmail.com, an independent consultant.  They do not represent those of people, institutions or organizations that the owner may or may not be associated with in a professional or personal capacity.)