桑福德——大多数公司都希望成为传送带技术公司. 去年, the Sanford-based enterprise that designs and builds automated machines used in manufacturing worldwide has enjoyed skyrocketing growth.

Thanks to orders pouring in from existing customers -- and new ones, 同时，他们的市场份额也在增长. 他们增加了78000平方英尺的空间. 他们的劳动力也在爆炸式增长.

Dreama Pilson, 公司的人力资源总监, says Conveyor Tech essentially is doubling their head count and has been hiring around the clock since last fall. They grew from 82 employees in October to 127 by the end of April. 在未来一年半的某个时候, 如果一切按计划进行, 他们预计这一数字将在200人左右徘徊.

但即使是好消息也会带来一些危险的挑战. 首先, how can you quickly hire so many people and train them all to assemble high-tech automated machines, especially when there's already a lot of turnover in those entry-level positions?

问题解决了

Nobody was more puzzled than Pilson -- until she mentioned the problem to 中央卡罗莱纳社区学院's industry services director Cathy Swindell. That's when the two longtime friends and industrial leaders had an idea: What about forming a comprehensive training partnership between Conveyor Tech and the college?

首先要解决的问题是培训新员工. Swindell found a gifted master training instructor who spent a couple of weeks inside Conveyor Tech, 学习他们的系统, assessing exactly what new machine builders needed to succeed on the job and then designing a training program to provide the critical knowledge and skills.

中国中交集团成立霍华德-詹姆斯创新中心, the state-of-the-art industrial training facility located a stone's throw from Conveyor Tech in the Lee County Industrial Park. 输送技术公司提供了所有需要的物资, 一些基本的工具和, 当然, 源源不断的新员工.

它是如何工作的

Pilson now hires in groups of six to eight and sends them to a two-week, 80-hour training class before they ever land on the production floor. 这个类, using the curriculum developed specifically for entry-level machine builders at Conveyor Tech, provides classroom instruction on basic electrical systems and a lot of hands-on assembly practice. It even includes a final assessment: completely assembling an automated machine. 顺利完成培训, 员工必须独自完成组装, 在固定的时间内, 准确率高达90%.

With that new-employee problem solved and a structure now in place to provide training easily and effectively, 输送带科技公司和中国交建挖得更深. They also added employee training in several other areas -- including electrical systems, 叉车安全, 领导和团队技能.

"We talked initially about the entry-level machine builders and what we needed to do to get a project in place, but then we talked about what else was needed given the growth they were going to have,斯温德尔说. "We knew there were other things that would help them be productive, efficient and successful.

"So, we're actually doing a larger project with other elements that will have a positive impact on the company."

创新与成功

它取得了绝对的成功. Not only has training allowed new employees to start building machines with added confidence and skill, but it means Conveyor Tech's more experienced machine builders can use their time better. 而不是教新员工最基本的技能, they can serve as mentors and focus on creating the company's intricate equipment.

"The partnership has been instrumental to our fast growth," says Pilson. "It has helped us improve both quality and production schedules -- which provides benefits internally, 公司内部, 对外服务于我们的客户."

这对斯温德尔和学院也有好处. The project provided an opportunity to help one local company solve a real problem and, 也许更重要的是, demonstrate how partnerships between education and industry can pay real dividends when everyone brings their expertise to the table.

"We don't want the community college to be seen as a last resort; we want it to be the first,斯温德尔是这么说的. “当公司招聘员工时, 发展现有的员工或培训新员工, 他们应该马上考虑社区大学, 因为这是劳动力发展发生的地方."

显然，其他人也相信这一点. Everything went so well at the Innovation Center that the Conveyor Tech project will be featured as an effective and innovative partnership during a presentation at MFGCON 18, the manufacturing innovation conference held each year in the Research Triangle. Pilson and Swindell will be sharing details and insights in September with industry leaders from across the state.

"Recruitment and retention are problems throughout the manufacturing environment," Pilson says when asked how she expects the presentation to be received. "Well-trained employees are happy employees, so the reaction can be only positive."

有关中交工业服务的进一步资料, 联系凯西·斯温德尔, 工业服务总监, 电话:(919)718-7212或电子邮件至 cswindell@baozhuang365.net.