Converting training costs into value on the plant floor

“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be your only sustainable competitive advantage.” — Arie de Geus

During these tough times, industries attempt to cut all costs deemed not absolutely necessary for the day-to-day operation of the plant. Many times training budgets are among the first costs to be curtailed. This usually happens because the true value of training may not be fully understood, and training may not be seen as critical to company growth and profits. The most important assets of any company are its employees. Properly trained employees are the best insurance to carry a company through the difficult times of down markets. Companies need to formulate training policies that will see them through all business climates. All business decisions should be based on three criteria: safety, environment and money. This is true regardless of the current business climate. Each year, millions of dollars are wasted throughout the United States on training that doesn’t add value in excess of the training costs. If the return on training is less than the cost, waste is the result. Training dollars are often wasted for several reasons. These include, among others, sending the wrong people to the training, sending the right people to the wrong training and selecting training that will not add value to the plant.

How to realize maximum value from training

Many times an employee is sent off to a technical school or training seminar and, upon their return, are expected to put their new knowledge to work. However, they may never be asked what they learned in the training sessions or if the training was pertinent to the plant. Too often the training becomes a “been there, done that” item, and little or no positive results are realized from the training. Before training is selected and people are chosen, there should be a clear and stated need for the training. Set specific goals to be met by the training and by people receiving the training. The benefits of the training should be measured. What are some of the steps that a company can take to help ensure real and measurable benefits from training? There are several:

• Whoever requests or initiates the training should draft a report stating why the training is needed and what results can be expected from the training. The old adage, “we don’t know what we don’t know”, comes into play here. It may be that new knowledge gained from the training will open up ideas not previously considered when the request for training was initiated. The report should also include information showing that the calculated value of the training should exceed the cost. This may only be a “guesstimate,” but it should be helpful in evaluating the potential value of the training.

• Many training companies provide a feedback document to those attending the training. The purpose of feedback is to help determine instructor skills, instructor knowledge, quality of training materials, classroom comfort, relevance of training, etc. A company using the training should also have a feedback document so that the training can be rated by those in attendance. Such documents will help companies eliminate training providers that perform poorly. The plant document will contain many of the same items contained in the document provided by the training company for class evaluation.

• Upon return from a training session, an employee should be required to draft a report stating what was learned of value in the training and present specific information about how the knowledge gained will be employed in the plant.

“Each year, millions of dollars are wasted throughout the United States on training that doesn’t add value in excess of the training costs.”

- Bill Hillman

•  Employee can also share newly found knowledge with other employees by conducting a training session or by doing “on-the-job” training. Not everyone is a trainer, and you shouldn't expect too much from such training sessions. Yet the old adage about not knowing a subject until you have to teach it is true. The new instructor and his or her students will profit from such training sessions. Studies show that only about 30% of the material taught in a training class is retained. This is another reason not to expect too much from someone who returns from a training session and re-teaches it to others in the plant. There may be some resistance to such training, but to quote Percy Cerutty, “You only ever grow as a human being if you’re outside your comfort zone.” Regardless of the re-training outcome, the employee should be congratulated and praised for valiant effort. All participants and the plant as a whole will profit from this type of training.

• Permanently capture newly acquired knowledge gained from training by writing and updating the knowledge into SMPs (Standard Maintenance Procedures) and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). All repeatable maintenance tasks and SOPs should be documented into procedures. As new knowledge is gained from training, procedures can be improved and updated by incorporating the new information into the procedures. These revisions should be subjected to a formal Management of Change process so that any changes to procedures will be agreed on by a MOC committee. When employees return from training, have them fill out a standard report designed to gather new information that may improve any written procedures. Well written procedures are a powerful training tool that will help to ensure that all tasks are performed to the same standard. The procedures can also be used to help train new employees.