Training – Who, where, when, how much does it cost? Large or small, every shop has employees, and formal or otherwise, those employees need training. Whether someone is looking at a computer for the first time to try and figure out what a spreadsheet is, to the guy lying under a machine looking at a greasy gearbox that has to decide how to get things moving again, we all need training in order to do our job better than the next guy.

Many business owners or shop floor managers I talk to are caught in the same riddle – who do I train, what do they need training on, how will I be sure the training is valuable (and well received), how can I find the time? These are all very real questions people have to deal with every day. Not all training needs to be formal, send somebody away to a classroom somewhere and buy them coffee and muffins and hope they stay awake. Some training is just good insurance - WHMIS and First-Aid come to mind, but is there more – how about Preventative Maintenance.

Preventative Maintenance. There’s a tough one – we have so little time for maintenance as it is, my guys have been doing this for years, half the stuff they do to call PM seems like slacking off, our maintenance department is swamped trying to fix stuff let alone interrupt production for PM, and on and on. And, it’s not just the printing industry. Many industries are getting leaner with margins eroding and business owners scratching their heads to reduce costs year over year. Yes, year over year. Even with the price of gas, electricity, wages, insurance, raw materials, trucking and everything else you can think of going up, many companies need to reduce their costs to avoid price increases to their customers, or their customers will leave. In the automotive industry it is not uncommon to have multi-year contracts that have declining prices.

Here are some of my thoughts on training: The cost of the training is paid for once, the value comes back every time the employee uses the knowledge or improves. The economic value of an employee is only determined by their use to the company, the more knowledge they possess the more efficient they can be, to the maximum of their abilities. Employee turn-over is everywhere – new employees need to be brought up to speed quickly, existing employees need to learn new technologies, procedures and methods to be effective and healthy; and to want to stay. Safety training is good risk management and cost effective insurance. Peer-to-peer training builds communication and respect, but care must be taken to ensure teams are built, not egos. Information is the most valuable commodity in business – the right information shared with the right people can lead to a powerful, productiveenvironment. Lack of information leads to a stagnant workplace.

At HGE, we highly value training - internally and externally. We recognize that our customers are investing in the greatest technology they can to help them compete in today’s environment – we firmly believe that we are obliged to give them every tool available to help them succeed. Call me to discuss how we can provide your team with more tools to help them succeed.