The Beige Book is a regional review released eight times per year by the Federal Reserve which surveys each of the Fed’s regional banking districts. The most recent report was released on Wednesday of this week and found that conditions in the U.S. economy grew moderately in most regions throughout the April-May period. Growth ranged from moderate to modest in 10 of the 12 banking districts, while the Boston district remained steady...
As the U.S. economy trudges up the hill to recovery, it is bound to hit a few bumps in the road. Recently the Department of Commerce reported that economic growth slowed in the first three months of the new year. Cutbacks in government spending as well as an increase in business investments offset the boost in consumer spending during the first quarter. These results show promise of continued growth, however the rise...
Washington recently reported that U.S. employers added nearly 227,000 jobs during the month of February. The spike in hiring continued the greatest three month rise of job creation since the recession. The Labor Department noted that the unemployment rate remained at 8.3 percent during February, staying at its lowest percentage within the past three years. During the past three months the U.S economy has created an average of 245,000 jobs. A survey...
Training skills are not easy to come by. The most effective methods and the greatest intentions can all go unnoticed when it comes to implementing industrial training skills if the adult learner is not fully understood. Malcolm Knowles, who is credited with revolutionizing the adult learning field, identified key principals which are critical in understanding adult learning tendencies. These critical principles can ultimately help manufacturing managers not only put in place quality...
Manufacturers have long been playing the waiting game when it comes to hiring new employees. The question is consistently whether to hire then train or to wait for the properly trained employee to come along. Well, the problem with the latter is that as the Baby Boomer generation continues to retire, older skilled workers are going to be hard to come by. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, a third of...
On Tuesday the Samsung Group, an electronics firm headquartered in South Korea, announced they will invest upwards of 47.8 trillion won, which translates to approximately 41.56 billion U.S. dollars, in expansion. They plan to spend this year which will prompt them to hire nearly 26,000 new employees. The electronics conglomerate has proposed to largely invest funds in their new business segment. The group is made up of 66 affiliates which range from...
With the manufacturing production output for the coming year seeming much more positive than those of the past, many economists are already looking to 2013 as another great year for hiring. The once struggling automaker, Chrysler, plans to add nearly 1,250 jobs to two Detroit factories. 1,100 new hires will go to The Jefferson North Assembly Plant which will also add a third shift to help produce the new diesel model of...
December of 2011 has been noted as the month in which manufacturing grew at the fastest pace during the past six months. Hiring in U.S. factories continued to rise, with plants hiring more people more quickly since June of 2011. New orders also increased which shows a positive future in store for production. According to the Institute for Supply Management, in November the manufacturing index rose from 52.7 to 53.9-any reading above...
On Tuesday the Obama administration approved onshore solar and wind farms in the West and pressed for off shore wind power in the Atlantic Ocean, in an attempt to increase renewable energy on each coast. The Interior department approved 300-megawatt solar farm to be placed on public land in Arizona as well as a 200-megawatt wind farm to be located in Southern California. The farms are the 24th and 25th renewable energy...
When researching ways in which web-based industrial training will benefit your business you will learn about the many advantages of online courseware, like ITC’s. Some of the major returns on investment include an increase in safety knowledge among your employees and the opportunity to further their trade education as a means to increase your company’s productivity and efficiency. While these advantages are crucial to the advancement of your business, considering the structure...
There are countless benefits to industrial skills training that range from safety to profitability. ITC’s skills training courseware is dedicated to improving your employee’s knowledge of basic and complex industrial skills. Here are just a few ways ITC’s industrial skills training programs will benefit your organization. SAFETY First and foremost, safety is the most important aspect of industrial skills training. With properly trained employees in the field you can rest assure the...
Jobless rates are up, but manufacturing rates are rising too? How can you train your current workforce to meet the current market needs? ITC Learning offers a catalogue of courses to aide training skills. A report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a 6.3 rise in manufacturing output in the first quarter of 2011. Hours worked and compensation grew by 3.3 and 2.6 percent respectively. Unit labor costs, however, have...
What does SCORM compliant mean?
SCORM stands for Sharable Courseware Object Reference Model (SCORM), which is a set of specifications that, when applied to course content, produces small, reusable e-Learning objects. A result of the Department of Defense’s Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative, SCORM-compliant courseware elements are easily merged with other compliant elements to produce a highly modular repository of training materials.
