Two Minutes on Manufacturing Excellence – Assessing Your Factory Floor Training System

In our recent blogs posts, we’ve discussed the challenging manufacturing environment of increasing customization and, with that trend, the need for improved job training as work continues to get more varied, complex and is always changing.

The last two posts identified initial steps to building an improved job training system. Today’s is about another critical part of that effort.

The Training System Improvement Initiative

As with all continuous improvement initiatives, an effective improvement initiative requires, among other things, the following components.

• A clear understanding of the current state of whatever process is being considered for improvement
• An idea of what is preferred or desired, some kind of future state picture
• Identification of the gaps between current state and future state
• A plan for closing the gaps in a way that most effectively supports the organization’s key business objectives

When developing an improved training system, one valuable tool that can help an organization to quickly develop those four components is an effective assessment tool.

IMC Training System Assessment Tool

Given the need for so many manufacturers to improve their job training, IMC has developed such a tool specifically for the purpose of assessing the organization’s factory floor training system.

The “Training System Assessment” is structured around the 5 elements of a business system.

• Roles and Responsibilities (who does what in the current training system)
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs required to perform effective training and qualification)
• Work Processes and Protocols (how the training, qualification, etc. is performed)
• Tools, Equipment, Information (enablers required for effective training)
• Expectations and Metrics (clear requirements for the system and quantitative results)

The 5-part format gives logical categorization to the assessment. That makes the assessment easy to complete in just a few minutes. And the categories provide a quick understanding of the current state (component 1). The specific assessment inquiries within the 5 elements provide a good start for the organization to picture and describe a desired future state (component 2). And the quantitative ratings that the company enters for each assessment item about its training system provide an excellent initial “gap analysis” (component 3). From there, you can develop component 4, a plan to close the most critical gaps.

IMC offers considerable knowledge and experience to support the efforts of manufacturers on any and all aspects of effective training system development. Contact your IMC business advisor or email info@imcpa.com to discuss further.