The G1 production line will manufacture automotive glass and architectural float glass. Production line construction is expected to begin this summer and be completed by the end of the year. The North American glass company hopes to offer the available new jobs to those that were recently laid off due to the shutdown of its Blue Ridge plant in Kingsport. The K1 production line in Kingsport produces glass for the solar industry. Since its shutdown AGC officials say that business has been negatively affected by the large amounts of imports from China.

President and CEO of the AGC Glass Company, Mark Ishiko, stated “We plan to service the growing demands of the North American automotive business, and grow our architectural business with higher quality clear and tinted float glass…Northeast Tennessee is an important region for our company and hopefully this restart [in Church Hill] will help lessen the effects from the K1 shutdown.”

Tennessee state officials as well as The Hawkins County Industrial Development Board have been working with AGC over the past two years to help secure taxes and other incentives to help restart the Church Hill plant. AGC Glass Company says they plan to include the latest environmentally friendly equipment as part of the reconstruction and have already for its state construction permit. AGC is based in Alpharetta, GA and is owned by Asahi Glass of Japan.

Increased hiring always leads to the opportunity to further industrial training skills. With easily accessible online courseware, employees are able receive industrial training from virtually anywhere and advance their education in an effort to boost productivity on the plant floor.

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 the Jeep Grand Cherokee. An addition 150 new hires will go to the Conner Avenue factory once it reopens later this year to produce a new version of the Dodge Viper for the Street Racing Team.

Eager for new hiring to begin, the United Auto Workers Union Vice President General Holiefield stated, “Our workers nationwide have had a rough couple of years along with the American auto industry and we are proud to be partners in building a future of success starting right here in Detroit.”

Last Thursday, an update to Mayor Dave Bing’s financial and operational restricting plan noted the city’s unemployment rate had reached 24 percent. The Chief of Governmental and Corporate Affairs, Kirk Lewis, said the percentage accounted for those in Detroit actively looking for work. He said, “It could be as high as 40 percent of our citizens who don’t have jobs.”

A state appointed review team is currently looking into the city’s finances which could ultimately result in Michigan taking over Detroit’s city government. As of now the city is faced with a general fund deficit of almost $200 million. In an effort to save nearly $14 million, thousands of city jobs will be cut in the next few weeks. The hope is that a stable auto industry hiring will help fill jobs.

During the bailouts of 2009 the U.S. auto industry reached record lows over the past 30 years. Since then, auto sales have grown for two years and are expected to rise again this year. Automakers are once again making profits which give high hopes to those searching for manufacturing jobs in the industry.

When new jobs are in development, training your industrial employees becomes an essential part of hiring. The greatest benefit to industrial skills training is that it benefits both your business and your workforce. By enhancing the industrial training skills of your employees you can potentially increase output and ultimately increase revenue. With ITC Learning’s SORM based online courseware industrial skills training is made easy to learn and track. With increased output and a properly trained workforce your return on investment will be easy to see.

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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 50 marks expansion.

With the end of 2011 indicating expansions in the manufacturing industry, stocks surged on the first trading day of 2012 partly due to news that manufacturing also grew in India and China. The industrial average of the Dow Jones was reported to have gone up more than 250 points during the first hour of trading.

After the recession was officially over in 2009, factories were the first area of the economy to see improvement. And now, consumers have become more confident and in turn are spending more money. The Conference Board says its consumer confidence index increased in December to the highest point since last April. This greatly affects the economy as consumer spending accounts for approximately 70% of the economy.  Economists predict that car sales also went up in December due to increased sales in November. Not only will those increased sales boost output of automakers but also for other industry suppliers such as steel companies and tire makers. The Department of Commerce reported that orders made for long-lasting goods also rose in November, mostly due to increased commercial aircraft orders.

Unemployment applications continue to drop as well, which proves companies have laid off fewer employees and are expanding their workforces. During the past three months, weekly applications have dropped by almost 10%. With such positive outlooks for 2012, an Associated Press survey of economists predicts a steady expansion of 2.4% in 2012.

As confidence grows and agencies continue to hire, proper industrial training increases in importance. ITC Learning offers SCORM based online courseware which is dedicated to improving the industrial skills of your employees. From control training and process training to air compressor repair and boiler training, ITC Learning administers all necessary training skills in an online format that is sure to educate your workforce.  Contact us today to learn how our manufacturing training courseware can make a difference in your output.

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In 1871, the first professional baseball game was played in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And today, almost 141 years later, Indiana is proving to be more than just a great place to hold baseball games, it has become a welcoming host to the manufacturing industry.

In 2003, Brian Emerick narrowed the focus of his Columbia City, Indiana based manufacturing plant to concentrate on the medical device industry after business in other segments had slowed down. Today, Mr. Emerick says it was the greatest move he ever made for his privately owned company, Micropulse Inc. Now, Micropulse has upwards of 200 employees and operates out of a 100,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Columbia City, Indiana, just 30 minutes outside of Warsaw where medical device manufacturing moguls such as Biomet, Symmetry Medical and Zimmer are headquartered. Fortunately, Columbia City is far enough from the Warsaw that is has no trouble finding qualified help. Emerick says, “There’s a rich manufacturing heritage in the area. It’s a very stable climate”. Micropulse has experienced steady expansion since it started and with the help of Whitley County and the state of Indiana it’s been able to further its business even more. In 2007, Micropulse was given tax cuts and matching funds to help add 47,000 square feet to their manufacturing facility in Columbia City.

While Warsaw has proven to be the orthopedic device manufacturing capital of the world, Northeast Indiana is in close second. With Fort Wayne at its center, the 10 county region is home to over 60 medical device companies that employ almost 2,000 workers. The areas proximity to Warsaw is also a major factor. In fact, it was a major selling point to Iotron Industries Canada Inc., a manufacturer that uses electron-beam radiation technology to sterilize agricultural products and medical devices. Iotron, which is based out of Vancouver, is currently finishing up a $15.3 million project that will build a new 54,000 square foot facility near Columbia County which is due to start production in 2012.

Not too far from Iotron, Fort Wayne Metals, which already has six facilities in Northeast Indiana, is expanding their production capabilities even more with a $12.9 million expansion project that hopes to create approximately 68 jobs by 2014. The metal manufacturer produces fine-grade wire used in medical tools.

While the medical device manufacturing industry is booming in the region, Northeast Indiana’s largest money makers continue to be industries such as transportation equipment, metals and plastics and rubber. General Motors is the region’s biggest industry employer and just recently announced in October that they will invest almost $275 million in its Fort Wayne plant in order to develop its next generation pickup truck.

Government officials in the region have made it a top priority to make sure the 335,000 industrial employees in the region continue to be properly prepared and placed for their work in the manufacturing field. With this effort in mind, there is a $20 million grant in the works, named the Talent Initiative, which plans to improve the industrial skill sets of the areas labor force. The Talent Initiative, which is being funded by a philanthropic foundation based in Indianapolis, will attempt to retrain adult workers for manufacturing jobs that are evolving due to changing technologies, expand engineering programs at Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and start New Tech high schools that utilize project based learning models in an effort to keep the youth interested in the manufacturing industry.

While government intervention is a great way to amp up industrial training, ultimately the responsibility is left to manufacturing employers to ensure their workforce is properly trained with the right industrial skill sets. At ITC Learning we offer superior industrial training that is offered through a variety of mediums, each of which enables trainees to educate themselves on the basic and advanced industrial skills sets necessary in the manufacturing industry. Contact ITC Learning today to find out how you can get stared.

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With the beginning of a new month comes the statistics of the past month. And this year, they’re looking positive. Thanks to an increase in new orders and production, U.S. factories saw the greatest increase in business since June 2011. Washington reported that manufacturing has increased for the past 28 consecutive months. The Department of Labor said that the number of unemployment applications increased to approximately 400,000 last week, the greatest increase over the past four weeks. While they also reported productivity of those employed rose at an annual rate of 2.3 percent during the July through September quarter. These statistics suggest that the hiring market may be growing at a slower rate compared to production output. The Commerce Department states that construction spending rose for the third consecutive month, however in spite of the increase spending overall remained low in November.

While the unemployment rate stayed at 9 percent for the second month in a row, payroll provider ADP seems optimistic, stating that companies added nearly 206,000 workers last month. Few economic indicators point toward the economy slowly reaching recovery while U.S. factories are reaping the benefits from increased auto sales and subsequent parts and raw material sales.

Consumer confidence seemed to reach an all-time high over the holiday weekend, giving corporations hope that steady growth is here to stay and ultimately will create more jobs in the coming year.

Hopeful corporations means factories and plants will want to ensure their workforce is trained to meet the highest of standards. ITC Learning strives to help organizations achieve the productive and efficient output goals they aim to reach. ITC Learning’s impeccable industrial training skills ensure that your workforce is properly and effectively trained for their job on the factory floor. From process training to maintenance training we aim to provide easy to use and innovative training courseware. At ITC Learning we offer full motion video courseware. With video gradually becoming a more engaging form of communication compared to simple text and images, we are able to provide a learning experience for adult learners like no other training program. By utilizing video courseware, instruction is put into action. As a result, your trainees are able to see how processes and procedures are carried out in real time.  Click here to browse ITC’s video courseware catalogue and our expansive library of online training courseware.

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Last week General Motors announced they will start manufacturing the Chevrolet Equinox at its plant in Tennessee. They also plan to start producing additional midsized cars there in the near future. The $244 million investment is expected to create almost 1,900 jobs at the former Saturn plant located just outside of Nashville. To get the ball rolling, General Motors will initially invest $61 million and plans to generate nearly 700 jobs to begin producing the Equinox by July of 2012. The remaining $183 million will be invested to manufacture 2015 models of unnamed midsized vehicles and create another 1,200 jobs. GM officials would not say more in an attempt to keep their competition on their toes. The upcoming move will allow General Motors to react to the growing demand for a greater variety of models.

In Idaho things are less definite but hopes are just as high. Zonda USA, a Chinese manufacturer of electric buses plans to move its U.S. office to Boise, Idaho in the next year and eventually start producing its electric buses in the southwestern Idaho region. Although the Chinese corporation has refrained from announcing when and where a manufacturing plant would be built or just how many jobs the plant opening could create, local Idaho government officials are optimistic of the move but are also realistic in that nothing is definite yet and the process may take some time. At its Chinese plant, Zonda USA, a branch of Zhongda Industrial Group in the United States, can produce nearly 15,000 buses in a year with a workforce of about 6,900 employees. Zhonga decided on Idaho due to the fact that the region is located relatively close to Pacific Ocean shipping ports and conveys a business-friendly outlook. Elected Idaho officials realize the project is only in the beginning stages of becoming a full-fledged move to their region but that has not stopped them from growing eager about the possibility. Nampa, Idaho Mayor, Tom Dale, said, “They’re a prominent company in China, and the technology with these electric buses seems to be leading edge.” Only time will tell what will become of this project, but the hope is that it will boost the local economy and create thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

With the possibility of new manufacturing plants opening in the near future, plant managers need to be sure employees are trained and educated to their full potential. ITC learning is dedicated to providing full motion courseware, CD-ROM courses and online courseware that focus on essential industrial

More than often new hires have had some form of manufacturing experience, but their skills may not be specific to the job you hired them for. Industrial training is a sure way to know your employees are trained for the job they do every day. By implementing the industrial skills training necessary for your employees to perform their jobs well, you’ll discover you can mold the perfect employee. Instead of waiting around for someone else to produce the knowledgeable employee you’re searching for take the opportunity to create the worker your company needs. In 2009 it was reported that employers spent approximately $126 billion on employee training and development. Numbers like this prove that developing the skills of industrial employees is something worth investing in.

Through the use of online industrial training, like ITC Learning’s, you present your plant with the opportunity to tailor online courseware and develop homegrown talent and avoid having to wait around for the right employee to find you. Industrial skills training programs that utilize SCORM based software and full motion video courseware provide trainees with the critical knowledge and functions of their jobs that they would likely have not learned through conventional training on the plant floor. When new hires are trained solely on the floor, trainers often skip steps because they’ve run through the process so often they simply forget to relay every detail. However, in online manufacturing training trainees are taught processes and methods step by step so that nothing is left out. Online industrial training also allows employees to understand how the machines they work with operate and why processes are done a certain way so they can properly troubleshoot any situation that may arise without having to ask someone else for assistance.

Ultimately, industrial training is an effective way to properly train your workers for the job they were hired to do. With ITC Learning’s online courseware you can track the progress of your employees and tailor each course to suit your plant’s specific needs. Contact us today to learn more.

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.

The Labor Department reports the number of unemployment applications fell in the first week of November. The number of applications dropped to the lowest level since April 2011. The drop in applications may be an indication that employers are beginning to feel comfortable hiring again. Additionally, the Commerce Department announced the U.S trade deficit reached its lowest point of the year in September 2011. With foreign sales of American machinery reaching an all-time high, the deficit dropped for the 3^rd consecutive time by nearly 4% to a grand total of $43.1 billion.

While the hiring outlook has been somewhat grim for a while, Washington D.C. reported that employers added more jobs in August and September than they had originally intended. Industrial employers have posted more jobs in September than at any other time over the past few years.

With a modest economic growth underway, industrial training initiatives are even more crucial.  Manufacturing plants, small and large, must realize the importance of hiring competent employees who are willing and able to not only perform the expected tasks of the job but also take part in tailored training courses. Employees who are eager to learn and advance their industrial skill sets are essential to any industrial business. Technology continues to rapidly evolve and so must your industrial workforce if you plan to maintain a competitive edge. ITC Learning’s online courseware covers all the safety and maintenance basics as well as in depth industrial skills training. Our courseware can be customized to fit your organization’s needs. From control training to air compressor repair to boiler training and even hydraulic training, you can rest easy knowing ITC Learning is an industry leader in providing the most accurate and quality industrial training.

In October, the economy created 80,000 jobs, the fewest added in over four months. However, with unemployment applications going down and manufacturers working to create more jobs a bright future is near. The next step is to create highly skilled and knowledgeable workers to manage your production, increase your efficiency and produce the best quality output for your business. ITC Learning can help you accomplish these goals by utilizing our SCORM based online courseware selected and customized specifically for your business and your employees.

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As technology continues to evolve the manufacturing industry is sure to follow. Computers and robotics have undoubtedly changed the industry and in some ways made it more accurate and efficient. The Association for Manufacturing Technology and The American Machine Tool Distributors Association reported that in July of this year, manufacturing technology consumption amounted to more than $500 million dollars. The amount shows a 93% increase from July of 2010, when machine tool sales totaled around $260 million. Overall, sales have gone up an astonishing 102.9% from 2010. AMTDA’s president says that the ups and downs of the stock market have had little to no effect on the demand for new machinery in plants. He predicts that eventually this pace will slow as orders are fulfilled, however in the meantime business is booming. Regionally, the Midwest has seen the greatest success with sales reaching $159.26 million. While the Northern region reached just over $75 million. The increase in manufacturing technology consumption may shed a light of hope on the condition of the industry’s economic standing, allowing it to continue to improve and develop more advanced systems.

With machine tool sales doing so well, manufacturers must ensure their employees are properly trained to operate and oversee their updated equipment. Just like the evolution of the industry the training skills of industrial employees must progress as well. ITC Learning is devoted to ensuring your staff is duly trained so they can operate the newest technologies in your plant safely and correctly. Inadequate training can result in injuries in the workplace. While accidents cannot be predicted, together we can do our best to ensure they are prevented. Not only is proper operation of your machinery important to your business’ success but also the maintenance of your tools. ITC’s online industrial training aims to help your staff maintain an advanced knowledge base of new and basic skills. We also offer maintenance training to ensure the upkeep of your equipment is performed properly and regularly. Protect your business, your employees and your equipment by investing in ITC’s skills training courseware.

To read the full report released by USMTO, click here.

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