NEWS
Stimulus Funds Available for Education & Training - 5/15/2009
As economic recovery and stimulus funds designated for training and education begin to emerge from the Department of Labor/ETA, it is essential that the metalworking community actively pursue these funding sources and opportunities. Funds are available for adult education, occupational job training, apprenticeships, on-the-job training, career advancement activities and supportive services to meet the skill and training demands of existing and emerging employees and to meet the needs of unemployed, underemployed and dislocated workers. Get details about the available funds and how your company can take advantage of this opportunity.
Pilot Test Sites Needed
In January, the PMA Educational Foundation will be pilot testing potential test items (multiple choice questions) for the new Metalworking General Knowledge & Aptitude Assessment. The assessment will cover: mechanical & spatial aptitudes, applied physics, mathematical reasoning, basic measurement, communications, and manufacturing understanding & behaviors. If you would like more information or wish to participate in this validation process, please complete and submit our form. This is a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an innovative assessment tool and shape it into an effective and legitimate predictor of individual success in our industry.
Metalforming Educational Foundation Releases New Training Guides
The Precision Metalforming Association Educational Foundation (PMAEF), an organization established to support and develop training and education for metalforming skills and to improve the awareness of careers in metalforming, has introduced new training guides for diemakers and stamping press operators/setup personnel. These modular training outlines, titled Supervisor Guides to Implement Competency-Based Training & Apprenticeship, assist supervisors, in-plant trainers, coaches and instructors in implementing structured, performance-based training.
Each module explains the core competency to be mastered and describes the overall learning objectives, performance standards, in-training assessments and structured job training activities that support the competency.Each module also lists potential education and training resources needed to administer it.
The Supervisor Guides to Implement Competency-Based Training & Apprenticeship have multiple functions. Companies can use them to design a new training or apprenticeship program or enhance and update existing training. They may also be used to standardize learning strategies and performance outcomes, structure on-the-job training requirements and provide benchmarking opportunities to national standards. In addition, the guides can help companies develop competency-based curricula and course content.
Both the diemaker guide and the press operator and setup personnel guide are available on CD-ROM. While the modules are sequenced in a logical order of training, the training delivery sequence and module content can be modified to meet company-specific objectives, processes, equipment, tolerances and terminology.
More information about these new products may be obtained by contacting Bruce Broman, PMA Educational Foundation program director, at 216-901-8800 or bbroman@pma.org.
Established in 1996, the PMA Educational Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt organization dedicated to the promotion and development of a skilled workforce for the metalforming industry. PMAEF operates as a supporting organization to the Precision Metalforming Association.
PMA is the full-service trade association representing the $41-billion metalforming industry of North America—the industry that creates precision metal products using stamping, fabricating and other value-added processes. Its nearly 1,200 member companies include metal stampers, fabricators, spinners, slide formers and roll formers as well as suppliers of equipment, materials and services to the industry. Members are located in 30 countries, with the majority found in North America?in 41 states of the United States as well as Canada and Mexico.
It’s Time to Get Training Again!
Experts say there’s a dramatic labor shortage looming in the United States. Employers will struggle to fill job openings while people unqualified (untrained) for these positions sit idle. Even now, the lack of skilled workers is making it difficult to maintain production levels to meet customer demand and compete in the global marketplace. The need for increased productivity and profitability coupled with ISO/QS and lean-manufacturing requirements has created the necessity for a well educated, highly trained and motivated workforce. See how skill standards can improve your bottom line through human performance here.
What Can Your Diemakers Do?
PMA's new Tool & Die Skill-Based Training & Assessment System is a valuable resource for benchmarking and measuring diemakers’ abilities, developing or upgrading a tool & die training or apprenticeship 
program, documenting and tracking diemaker competencies for ISO/QS compliance, starting or enhancing a pay-for-skills program, partnering with a local institution to train diemakers, or simply measuring what your diemakers can do and how well they do it. It provides a “best practice” training design for each of four “levels” of ability (novice, entry, journey and master) and illustrates what diemakers should be able to perform at each level and in what order they should learn the necessary skills. It provides 30 hands-on performance tests and includes Performance Achievement Records to track and document the skills, competencies and accomplishments of your diemakers, trainees or apprentices. All printed material is also provided on a CD, allowing you to reproduce consumables and even modify the program to your organization’s specific needs. This program is partially funded by a grant from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). For more information or a complimentary copy of the Program Guide which illustrates how the program works, please contact Bruce Broman (bbroman@pma.org) at PMA.
To purchase this Training System, go to the PMA marketplace and choose the title under the topic, "Employee Training."