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In brief
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Cross-training workers improves productivity, but it can be difficult for some companies
BY JIM T. RYAN | jimr@journalpub.com
JOB JUGGLE
training can help an employee advance and improve the company, sometimes there isnt enough time, money or willing employees to follow through, some executives said. please see JUGGLE, page 22
Theres a thin line between improving worker productivity and reality. Such is the case with cross-training workers in multiple aspects of a business, executives said. Although
The practice of Six Sigma quality management is not novel in the business world. But the way companies and individuals receive training on the technique has begun to change. Six Sigma can help a company refine a business process to make it Smeltzer more predictable, said Michael Smeltzer, executive director of the Manufacturers Association of South Central Pennsylvania. It is a tool that firms can use to improve the quality of their products by identifying problems and reducing the potential for mistakes, he said. York College of Pennsylvania responded to the ever-increasing popularity of Six Sigma last year by beginning to offer full courses on the specialty within its Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. I think whats cool about what York College is doing is theyre embedding it into their MBA program, Smeltzer said. Often today, Six Sigma training occurs after someone is on the job. What York College is doing is the absolute right thing to do. It just makes perfect sense. The topic has been touched on within graduate courses over the years, but semester-long discussions of lean operations practices is new, said Eric
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Its usually worth the effort to cross-train employees, said Mary Ann Stoltzfus, owner and vice president of operations for Dutchland Inc., a Sadsbury Township, Lancaster County-based company that makes precast and poured concrete structures such as holding tanks for sewage treatment facilities. Cross-training solved a productivity problem for Dutchland after the company found many employees were disconnected from the projects their precast parts went into, Stoltzfus said. Although those workers are an important part of the process, they rarely got to see or take part in the construction of the finished structure, she said. People need to see a beginning and an end to their work, Stoltzfus said. Since Dutchland makes custom concrete structures, its not the same as counting widgets at a factory, she said. For Dutchland, needing fewer employees to finish a project is a good measure of better productivity it means there are more people to start the next one, she said. After learning the additional skills, employees were happier and more interested in their work, too, she said. New workers integrated into a team faster because they had more people
because it employs only six people, he said. When each employee knows more than their own job, it makes everyone more productive and prevents lost time, he said. I think it makes the employee more valuable, too, he said. Workers who learn new skills are able to adapt to new technologies, he said. That flexibility helps a company to adapt, he said. There is a risk that more skilled employees will look for greener pastures, but its a risk Gallagher is willing to take, he said. You cant prevent every good employee from moving on, he said. Gallagher said he knows of at least four former employees who started printing companies and now compete with him for business. But hes unconcerned about it, he said. Some people say, If you teach them all that, then theyre going to leave for a better job, Gallagher said. I say, More power to them. If you can do better than our little printing company after we train you, thats OK. Although cross-training employees is good for business, sometimes its not easy, said Glenn Eyster Jr., president of Shrewsbury, York County-based Eysters Machine and Wire Products Inc. The company manufactures custom parts for a variety of industrial
applications and machines. That type of work requires that machines be frequently reset for new jobs, Eyster said. When youre changing the machines so often, its difficult to train someone on a new machine, he said. Someone else will always have to set it up first. Theres also the issue of time; training takes a lot of it, he said. If a companys bottom line is stressed by economic conditions, it needs every employee working on the vital tasks, he said. That leaves less time to train. More importantly, sometimes workers dont have the drive to learn new jobs, machines and skills, Eyster said. Its kind of up to the individual. If theres someone who wants to advance, well take that person and train them, he said. The person that is happy on one machine and doesnt want to learn, eventually you have to lay them off. Employees who last are the ones willing to learn, he said. Good companies nurture that, he said. You accommodate those people because it makes them happy, Eyster said, and ultimately it gives you a better work force. <
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