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 will be slow and steady.

From January to March of 2012 the economy grew at the annual rate 2.2 percent, compared to the 3 percent rise in the final quarter of 2012. However, the economy expanded only 1.7 percent for the entire year of 2011 and is expected to make a comeback of about 3 percent at the close of 2012 as increased hiring continues to encourage consumer spending.

Besides feeling the pressure of slowed growth, manufacturers will face another critical issue in the near future. That issue is the retirement of baby boomers. According to a poll done by the Society for Human Resource Management and AARP 19% of the 430 human resource professionals polled worked in the manufacturing business. And, 72% of all those polled admitted the upcoming retirement of baby boomers within the next 20 years is a serious problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. In preparation for this mass exodus many manufacturing managers have turned to industrial training. While some have still looked into perhaps hiring elderly workers as consultants, temp workers or even considered developing part time positions for the aging workforce, others have looked to their younger staff to step up to the plate. Part of that entails participating in manufacturing training.

Manufacturing training is critical to the success of any plant. Whether it is utilized to fill the gaps that baby boomers will eventually leave behind or simply to enhance performance of current workers from all generations, manufacturing training aims to increase production output and ultimately your bottom line. Contact ITC Learning to find out how our SCORM based industrial training courseware can help benefit your organization and your staff. Our online courseware is tailor specifically for your organization’s needs and ensures your workforce will receive quality industrial training in a variety of formats.

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 manufacturers are already facing relatively serious shortages of skilled employees left in the labor pool. So the only answer is to recruit, develop and maintain a talented workforce.

In order to develop and maintain a workforce rich in industrial training skills, top level managers must realize that the culture of their plant may also need to adapt to the younger industrial worker. Instead of a command and control environment, the younger generation responds better to working as a team.

When it comes to hiring, manufacturers need to look at the long term rather than the immediate. Although an employee that has extensive industrial skills upon hiring may seem ideal, technology is constantly changing and retraining will be required at some point. So then, why not train new hires properly when they first hit the plant floor? By developing the industrial skill sets of committed workers, younger employees can see the potential path ahead of them and in turn work harder to achieve those goals. But in order for them to reach those ambitions they must not only work hard but also efficiently and productively. By providing industrial skills training, manufacturers will benefit their business and their workforce. The return on investment is obvious, as productivity is bound to increase when abled and knowledgeable employees are working the plant floor.

So in today’s high tech society how do we supply training skills to new hires in an easy and accessible format? SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) based e learning systems make this simple. With SCORM online courseware is required to meet specific software standards so that trainees can access modules from an office computer or even their home computer. SCORM also makes it easy for plant managers to track their progress and update the courseware. In a quickly evolving world, SCORM makes delivering online industrial training simple and effective.

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