Investing in a Training and Education Partner Pays Bottom-Line Dividends for Manufacturers

The learning function today is more relevant than ever before, and because of this, manufacturers are investing steadily in distributor and dealer training. According to the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD), it is estimated that U.S. organizations spend nearly $130 billion on learning and development annually. These investments show signs of continued growth as well, with budget growth rates increasing an average of 6.2 percent for large organizations and 2.7 percent for small to medium organizations over the previous year.

Yet, despite this heavy spend, many roadblocks stand in the way of delivering complete and effective training and training materials to distributors and dealers in today’s global market. These include the need to be consistent and uniform in training materials and presentations, overcoming time constraints during the production of training sessions, and developing coursework that will help students learn and retain the information.

What does this mean to learning practitioners in the manufacturing industry? Simply put, they are required to focus on content and course development while also coordinating training materials through document and logistics management.

Training and Education Partnerships
One method to overcome these various roadblocks and to help training professionals focus on their core competency—content development—is to attain the services of a training and education partner. According to ASTD, many organizations have experienced increases in learning efficiency by selecting outsourcing partners who complement their internal strengths.

As manufacturers gain a better grasp on their skills inventories, the kinds of external learning services they need change as well. Manufacturers report that cost reduction is only one of several criteria they use to select external partners; and they are as concerned about who to partner with as they are about what they can outsource.

When evaluating potential training and education partners, learning practitioners must keep in mind that their organizations and employees are the content experts. As such, a solid training and education partner should offer services that assist the learning practitioner in other areas that compliment their educational capital, including content management capabilities, training effectiveness and the ability to use time wisely and effectively.

Eliminate Manually-Intensive Content Management
With facilities and plants dispersed across multiple geographic locations, a firm training and education program foundation can quickly crumble under a manually-intensive process for producing and distributing training documentation.

Staying compliant with an ever-changing regulatory environment requires frequent changes to materials. Processes for bridging the gap between content creators/owners, multiple iterations and the end user create costly logistics challenges, challenges that can be addressed by a training and education partner.

Increase Training Effectiveness
Manufacturers require their distributors and dealers to know more and stay current, so they are spending more on workplace learning in order to improve readership and retention. Maximizing individual contributions and job satisfaction hinges on compelling, consistent training documentation. Methods to attain this include personalization of the training materials and the addition of color to the presentation and handouts. ASTD research shows that color can increase learning and retention by up to 78 percent; and, because color makes documents more attractive, it also increases readership by 40 percent.

By turning the production and distribution of these personalized color materials to a training and education partner, a learning practitioner can focus on important issues like content development, learner retention and program measurement.

Time is of the Essence
There are several obstacles concerning the time it takes to create, distribute and maintain learning initiatives, including:

• Outdated training materials
• Version control
• Inventory costs
• Delivery timeliness
• Tight deadlines

Over 60-70 percent of learning taking place outside of the classroom environment. As a result, printed materials have become an invaluable reference to trainees for on-the-job training after the session has concluded.

With the production and delivery of timely, up-to-date training materials managed through a single platform and provider, learning practitioners can take a more active role in coaching and supporting trainees after training is complete. A training and education partner helps maintain the forward momentum of the manufacturer’s training group by having printed training materials ready where they need them, when they need them—whether domestically or internationally.

Case in Point
With a worldwide employee base of nearly 43,000, this global manufacturer of industrial and construction components had a major pain point concerning the operation of its in-house print center. In particular, the manufacturer was greatly dissatisfied with the center’s production of training materials for its distributors, citing poor quality, long turn-around times and a general lack of manufacturing industry knowledge.

Following a thorough assessment of the print center and its usage requirements, Standard Register was able to present the manufacturer with a complete Contracted Print Services solution that would exceed the manufacturer’s training needs and expectations. With this solution, the manufacturer realized a 24 percent reduction in spending, or approximately $225,000 in annual savings on training and education materials.

Outfitting Distributors, Dealers for Better Business Performance
A manufacturer’s approach to distributor and dealer education and training defines the organization’s current capabilities and establishes the basis for its future business performance. A training and education partner can manage business-critical training materials so that learning practitioners can arm their distributors and dealers with the proper materials to stay one step ahead of the competition. From manuals to coffee mugs, posters to invitations, a training partner allows learning practitioners to focus on developing effective content while they handle design through delivery of the supporting materials.

For more information on how you can benefit by working with a training and education document management partner, contact Standard Register today.