Weblogic

Region 7 WRT Coos and Curry County

Freeman Marine with funding for a customized welding project

This training program was highly successful because it provided welding training to a broad spectrum of Freeman employees along with five South Coast Lumber employees in need of welding certification for toward millwright certification.  The training was also offered to two community members free of charge.  The trainer in addition to group demonstrations offered one-on-one certifications in specific welding techniques.  It also offered other Freeman employees to gain a better understanding of the welding processes including design engineers.

 As design engineer Akilesh Vedartham stated,
"Getting practical experience with the welding gun and cutting torch made me realize how much space would be an issue when designing products.  After the welding training I double check my work by asking myself if the welder can get the weld gun to the required location.  Also, it taught me what welding procedure would be appropriate for the jobs we do at Freeman Marine."

As Mary Tayor, Freeman's HR Manager said,
"Freeman Marine was honored to be the recipient of Workforce Training funds.  This support enabled us to offer beginning welding instruction to our entry level staff members along with welding certification for our more advanced staff.  This kind of skill training helps our people to be more productive and our company to be more competitive in the world marketplace."

Region 1 WRT Clatsop and Columbia Counties

Dyno Nobel recently completed their training project on 9/27/06.  They trained 13 employees, one over plan and retained 13 positions, one over plan.  The training was Supervisory Training and the training provider was PCC.  According to Dyno Nobel project success is defined as, "Positive comments from participants and better understanding of their position as a supervisor and the roll they play in the success of their employees."  Johneta Johnson.  
 

Region 14 WRT Grant, Harney and Malheur Counties

The Workplace Training Grants that Heinz Frozen Food Company has received has helped us to maintain our competitiveness in the retail potato product market; which in turn allows us to offer employment to nearly 1,000 in Malheur County, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.

Some of the training was targeted to machine-specific requirements of the packaging lines of our company.  We have used the grants for equipment operator classroom and hands on technical training and the development of operators manuals for equipment.

As employees move to other positions or leave the company, our skill set also leaves.  It is critical that we are able to operate the packaging equipment to utilize the machinery to maximum efficiency.

With the training grants that we have received we had productivity gains, reduced our rework and production waste, increased the earning potential -through production bonuses- for all employees.

We are grateful to the State of Oregon for this training opportunity.
Lori Holcomb Employee Relations Specialist Heinz Frozen Foods

Region 12 WRT Morrow and Umatilla Counties

The Workforce Development Grant we received helped to provide additional training to existing employees and to increase the employee's knowledge and skill set to retain and expand their current job duties.  Most employees who received this training benefited from an opportunity to increase their wages because of their increased skills or certifications. 

We used some of the funds to create training materials that provided a learning environment that was barrier free to many of our employees.  "When you were an employee doing your training, which of the training methods did you prefer and why?" was the question we asked employees to evaluate and modify the training we were providing under this grant.  This was Mike Jones' answer to the question. 

"I liked the computers that were more listening and visual because I am not a reader.  It is hard for me to read and comprehend at the same time.  I am more of a ‘hands-on' learner than by reading.  It made it easier for me to understand what I need to do."

Mike referred to the written materials we changed into a PowerPoint training that was visual and verbal.  The presentation used written materials, visuals to emphasize the written materials with an audio presentation.  Other training materials were modified to be files on a computer, so the employee could use the computer as a training tool.  Things were easily grouped under electronic folders so the employee simply selected one file after another.  The sound and pictures came up and they were set to learn without being faced with a stack of papers or reading materials.  We believe this was a positive change.

The funds were also used to assist our company to expand the ability of our employees to increase productivity, by their use of technology.  This was demonstrated in the reduction in "rework" and a sense of being part of the company's corporate culture that emphasizes "Customer satisfaction on construction projects by providing quality products and service during all phases of construction." 

 It is difficult to say that all of the benefits that our employees and our company received as a recipient of the 2004-2005 WRT grant monies were only from the grant monies.  The partnering among agencies such as the Work Force Training Grant, CAPECO, CTUIR, Workforce Alliance, and the Work Source Oregon Employment Department afforded both our company and the individuals we employ many opportunities the over past two years.  The importance of continued funding of this interagency approach would be beneficial to our continued success as a small construction company in Eastern Oregon.   Jayne Clarke President, Pioneer Asphalt, Inc.

Region 2 WRT Multnomah and Washington Counties

NW High Performance Enterprise Consortium (NWHPEC) received a $100,035 grant from the Region 2 Workforce Investment Board to deliver lean ESL training to their membership. The grant ran from December 2004 to June 2006. NWHPEC's membership includes many relatively small firms that would not have been able to access this training without the assistance of the grant and NWHPEC.

Training in lean manufacturing training with an ESL focus was delivered in a partnership between the Customized Workforce Training team at Portland Community College and the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The grant trained 143 workers, exceeding the goal of 135.

The grant also produced a public domain curriculum. The curriculum has already been shared with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, which is designing a similar training, and NWHPEC staff have consulted with the Brooklyn Chamber staff on successful program design and training delivery.

NWHPEC members participating in the Lean ESL classes all reported an increase in productivity due to the training their employees received.  All agreed that the worker's increased knowledge of Lean principles and specifically, the understanding of why their companies are focusing on Lean as a business strategy has led to teamwork, increased and enhanced communication between team members and workers and management, and a sharp increase in the generation of new production and process improvement ideas, which leads to productivity increases.  Rick Metro, Operations Manager from Bushwacker reports the following:

"The impact our Lean ESL training has had for us is:

 We no longer utilize an interpreter for our company meetings.
 Rework has been reduced by 25%.
 Increased participation in work cell layout and design.
 Communication has improved to the point where we have cross-cultural team Value Stream Mapping training with verbal presentations.
 We have had an overall boost in morale as we take the communication barriers down."

All NWHPEC members participating in the Lean ESL program reported their workers identified, communicated, and resolved known wasteful production practices in a much greater number after participating in the Lean ESL classes.  As noted above, Bushwacker achieved a 25% reduction in rework. Another employer, Rejuvenation, has seen a space utilization decrease of over 50% that allowed Rejuvenation's production operations to be more flexible in process layout and offered growth options to other departments in support of their production needs.

As waste is eliminated and batches of product are reduced, a clear and uncluttered pathway is created throughout production operations.  All NWHPEC members participating in the Lean ESL classes reported their products flow through production much smoother, which leads to decreased lead time or cycle time.  Rick Alvarado, Lean Manager for Woodfold-Marco says, "Within a few days of the training we had a Value Stream Mapping event involving around 50% of the department.  With their new knowledge of Lean we were able to come up with a Future State Map that we are implementing currently.  Some of the gains are reduction in WIP [work in process], freed up floor space, and increased velocity through the department."  Similarly, Rejuvenation has seen a 50% reduction in total throughput time.  Prior to the Lean ESL classes, Rejuvenation's lead time was 16 hours and now is eight hours; what used to take them two days to produce is now produced in one!