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 electronics to insurance and even finance. In South Korea, the top 30 business groups vowed to invest a collective 151.4 trillion won in 2012 and hire nearly 123,000 new workers.

With new plants come new responsibilities and in many cases new hires as well. All plant developers, owners and managers want their new beginning to run smoothly and profitably. So, in an effort to meet that goal, employing a properly trained workforce can help. Over the years technology has greatly affected process monitoring, control and industrial automation which has in turn helped improve productivity. This is precisely why control training and process training are critical when it comes to educating a new staff. Same goes for hydraulic training, pump training and boiler training.

Since all aspects of the manufacturing industry are constantly changing, we recommend keeping your employees up to date on the newest industrial advances and procedures. Online training courseware, like ITC Learning’s, can make training new employees and re-training your existing staff simple and affordable. Our online courseware was built following the SCORM standards so that we could provide our clients with the most user friendly industrial courseware that could be accessed from anywhere. Not only has SCORM allowed us to offer easily accessible online courseware but it also permits us to deliver courses that are easy to track and update, so you can see the progression of your trainees. Contact ITC Learning today to learn more.

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Training should be relevant to your organizational needs

The training program that you put in place must relate to the day to day tasks of your employees and should make a distinct connection with the workplace or even your employee’s specific workstation. If this connection is not made, training becomes unrelated and employees are likely to get bored and pay little attention.

Incorporate hands on training

Online courseware, like ITC Leaning’s, is a great way to allow industrial employees to expand their knowledge on their own time and in a comfortable setting. But while reading and doing practice assignments can be helpful, nothing is more beneficial than hands on training. Integrate real life situations into your training program to ensure employee will know what to do when they are no longer reading words but are actually working with industrial equipment. Describing how a process should be done is very different than actually being able to perform the task in a real life scenario, once training is completed.

Spell it out

Your trainees should know exactly what is expected from their training. Explain to your learners how their newly acquired industrial skills will apply to their day to day work. Let them know the basic knowledge they’ll need to have in order to perform well in the training courses and what they are expected to learn from the program as a whole.

Track progress

The only way to know if your industrial training was effective is to follow up. Assess skill sets before and after training to determine if your program was successful. Let your learners know that they will be evaluated on their applied skills once training is over, this may help engage them from the start.

Industrial training is a pertinent aspect of operating an efficient and proficient industrial organization. If not done properly, a lot of time and resources can be wasted. Make sure your goals are well defined and your selected courseware is accurate and up to date. ITC Learning strives to provide superior online courseware for your employees in an effort to improve industrial skills and help your business succeed.

Anytime an employee handles an electrical circuit, there is an elevated risk of electrical shock. Electrical safety behaviors should extend beyond electricians. Any worker utilizing a power tool or working alongside someone dealing with electrical equipment can increase the chances of electrocution occurring. At ITC we recognize that industrial training is a fundamental element to running a successful and safe business. With our interactive courseware your staff will learn essential skill sets to practice their trade without harm. Below are a few points that will help educate your staff on the importance of electrical safety training.

• Black and red wires are usually energized. Anytime an electrical circuit or component is energized there is a risk of electrical shock. White wires are usually neutral. However, neutral wires can still pose a threat if not properly handled by a trained professional.
• Metal electrical boxes should always be grounded.
• Before any repairs are made, all electrical systems should be shut off and then double checked to make sure they are completely off.
• Utilize color coded wiring when dealing with voltage regulating equipment to ensure the safety of yourself and future repairmen.
• Always lock out and tag out electrical circuits. Never attempt to open a circuit that has been locked. To gain access, contact the person listed on the tag for approval.
• Always assess the job you are about to take on. By recognizing possible threats in advance you may save yourself or a co-worker from a work-related injury. Pre-work briefings can also help identify possible hazards and answer questions in order to avoid injury.
• Consistently check wiring diagrams to make sure all proper connections are made. Any incorrect wiring can easily cause a fire.

These tips should be taken into consideration before dealing with any electrical component. By investing in ITC’s electrical training courseware you will greatly benefit your business and allow your employees to further their trade education.

“The dramatic year-over-year growth further underscores the manufacturing renaissance that is taking place,” said Douglas K. Woods, President of AMT.

To get a detailed report, you can check out the full report that even breaks down tech consumption at the regional level. But, with an emphasis on streamlining and investing in manufacturing technology, there comes an added expense in educating employees on the new processes.

Five ITC Tools That Can Help

ITC Training  Tool #1: On-Line Products

ITC offers a complete line of on-line courses, from electrical skills training that address AC/DC Motor theory to mechanical training series that offers equipment repair courses. Additionally, the on-line courses are SCORM and AICC compliant. No matter how you plan to deliver the modular content to educate your employees on your new equipment, this ensures you’ll be able to deliver up-to-date industry best practices.

ITC Training  Tool #2: CD-ROM Courses

This resource is a comprehensive CD-Rom catalog that ranges from the above to an extensive instrumentation skills series that can address things like boiler control or even process operations. Additionally, the CD-Rom courses also have a compliance series, important for the evolving manufacturing environment. Most courses are also available on DVD.

ITC Training  Tool #3: Train the Trainer

Roles are being redefined on all fronts, so training those who will be training the new workplace employee is important. ITC’s DVD courses offer a special Maintenance Management Series.

ITC Training  Tool #4: Custom Courseware

With the evolving workplace, ITC can customize a training course with your specific needs in mind. Some companies ITC has catered to include: Viacom Cable and Rogers Cablesystems, Caterpillar, U.S. Navy Information Assurance Program Offices and more.

ITC Training  Tool #5: Learning Portal

Time is always of the essence. ITC Learning has developed iKnow, one of the best instructional learning portal designs in the industry. You can optimize online delivery, track employee progress, easily deliver online courses and it is fully interactive.

March marked the fourth month in a row, unemployment declined in March. Nearly 216,000 new jobs were added. Since the beginning of 2011, unemployment fell a full percentage point, the largest drop since 1983.

Among industries that expanded payroll were factories. With the addition of 17,000 jobs in March, it marked the fifth month in a row of growth within the industry.

“The U.S. labor market is finally making some serious progress. No fooling,” said Sal Guatieri, economist at BMO Capital Markets Economics.

There are obvious advantages and disadvantages of growth. On the one hand, growth is always good. Growth in business means that revenues are up. That’s common sense. Growth, however, also means new employees. These employees need to be trained and integrated to factories’ labor force.

That comes with a cost. Each day a worker is training and not working, it devalues the overall output. That is, of course, until a worker is no longer in training.

ITC Learning can help speed up skills training process

ITC Learning offers affordable factory skills training that can streamline the training process in order to minimize the learning curve and put workers to work.

Industrial Skills Training

Using iKNOW on-line training, ITC integrates the latest technology with interactive elements as well as animation, graphics and audio to round out the virtual training experience. Lessons are roughly on 30 to 45 minutes in lengths, and undergone a review process by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers to ensure that classes are up-to-date and relevant for today’s factory worker.

Electrical Skills Training Series

The series includes skills training in electrical safety, maintenance and repair.

Mechanical Skills Training Series

This skills training series includes lesson in everything from mechanical print reading to centrifugal pump repair.

Additionally, ITC products include a Basic Skill Training Series and PC Skills Training.

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.

SCORM in layman’s terms

Basically, in a general sense, SCORM compliance means that videos and e-Learning tools ensure that it can be played across multiple platforms. Think of it in the context of a DVD release. Say, MGM launches a DVD, but it can only be played on MGM DVD players. Well when you want to watch a Warner Bros. DVD, you have to purchase a Warner Bros. DVD player. You don’t want 10 different DVD players to watch 10 different movies. That’s what SCORM compliance is. You and your business aren’t interested in downloading 10 different video platforms for e-Learning content. SCORM uses a universal code so companies across the board can use the same material. The benefits, along with streamlining the process, allow for a universal adoption of training standards as well. So when a company hires workers that are certified or trained in a particular area, they are hiring an employee with universal training.

E-Learning online courses

The goal is to streamline and simplify the e-Learning experience. Not only do we meet SCORM compliance standards with our instructionally sound and easy-to-use training videos, we minimize bandwidth and security concerns.

ITC Learning’s electrical safety training course is the ideal way to get your employees up to speed. Our classes will ensure that your employees can identify the electrical hazards, avoid exposure to those hazards and understand the potential results if exposed. They will also be able to understand the dangers of electrical shock and flash/arc blast.

ITC Learning knows that most electrocutions can be avoided with proper training, preparation, procedures and equipment. For instance, the course also provides training in lockout/tagout which is a procedure that can be used to help reduce the death and injury rate caused by the unexpected energization or start-up of machines.  After successfully completing our electrical safety course, your employees will be better qualified to safely perform the tasks and procedures necessary to conduct their work.

Our electrical operations series includes classes about AC/DC motor theory, AC/DC motor maintenance, electrical print reading, conduit installation, and other subjects. For instance, our AC/DC Motor training course:

• Identifies the components of an AC motor and explains their functions
• Explains the basic magnetic principles, sine waves, methods of increasing magnetic flux in a conductor
• Explains the characteristics of good conductors and insulators

Whether you’re a steel producer, electrical firm, motor vehicle manufacturer or other manufacturer, we have industrial electrical training classes to suit your company’s needs. Regardless of the training format—DVD/Video, CD-ROM or Online— that you and your employees decide to use, our training programs will give your employee the confidence to perform their jobs.

Any company that employs industrial electricians should stay abreast of the changing technology. If you need an electrical training course we don’t offer, we can create an online course to keep your employees up-to-date about the latest procedures.

We have developed a maintenance training and industrial training program delivered via multiple methods; CD-ROM, DVD/Video and/or online classes. As the manager, you have the ability to set the pace of the course and you decide when to and where to utilize our course materials. Each lesson in the maintenance training and industrial training skills courses will provide educational information, real life examples, eye-catching graphics, quizzes and interactive media to make the learning process interesting and effective. For instance, the Distributed Control series in our Mechanical Maintenance training program is an eight part lesson that trains participants about maintaining:

• Distributed Control Fundamentals
• Maintaining Distributed Control Systems
• Electronic Maintenance
• Pressure and Temperature Transmitters
• Flow Transmitters
• Level and Weight Transmitters
• Transducers, Recorders, and Annunciators
• Electronic Controllers

After completing our program, your maintenance personnel and plant managers will be equipped to handle and solve all forms of maintenance and industrial issues. ITC Learning’s training courses are designed to help you create a competent, qualified and efficient workforce.