The Advantages Of Web-Based Training
by Wesley Howard, Managing
Director, Tooling University, a Division of Jergens, Inc.
Web-based training holds great
promise for manufacturers as they struggle with maintaining a skilled
workforce. A quick review of today's traditional training alternatives
highlight methods that can be both ineffective and
inefficient: Manufacturers perceive that they cannot afford to take
production down for hours or days at a time for training seminars.
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High travel, lodging, and meals costs for sending
employees to training.
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Training often not tailored to the employer's
specific needs.
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Training efforts must be duplicated to reach a
dispersed workforce.
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Employees' work and personal schedules leave only
small blocks of available time for training.
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Technological changes and product redesign can
quickly training course content.
Traditional distance learning media, including
teleconferencing, text-based courses, audio courses, video courses, and
text-based training all can help -- but each has drawbacks and can't solve all
the problems mentioned above.
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In this light, web-based training has important
advantages: web-based training potentially replaces 100 percent of
classroom, video, audio, and text-based training.
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Web-based training is deliverable on-demand to any
web browser, anywhere in the world, even to a workstation on a CNC tool on the
shop floor.
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Web-based training provides education and product
training in whatever time increments the employee or customer requires.
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Web-based training content is instantly updateable
without republishing manuals, CD ROMs, books, videos, and tapes.
Web-based training that is designed specifically for
the metalworking industry is already on the scene. Tooling University
(www.toolingU.com) gives you a good idea of what web-based training has to
offer. Other sources are bound to follow, giving the metalworking industry a
head start in the race to meet the training challenge.