Looking for additional training

Throughout my career, I’ve made it a point to take training classes every year for my personal betterment, and I urge others to do the same. Be it training through work or other avenues, it is time well spent. Training comes in a lot of different forms, and it’s important to use any and all training opportunities that may help further your career. My experiences with training have been many and varied.

Training offered at work can last from 4 to 8 hours to a week. The company may also provide online training about subjects such as ethics, contracts and import/export requirements. Each session typically consumes an hour or so.

More exotic training occurs when companies implement programs designed to change the company culture, such as lean initiatives. Kaizen event training associated with lean lasts several days, while training for rapid improvement events, which are used to quickly change processes, takes less than a day. An RIE may involve changing the location and size of a work area or adding/modifying existing equipment. The RIE itself will take less than a week.

I also enjoy attending seminars or workshops held by machinery dealers and toolmakers at their facilities. Granted, these events are often promotional, but I still get something out of them.

The local technical college is another avenue for off-site training. Typically, their workshops last from a few hours to a full day, with some involving multiple sessions held a week or two apart.

For example, last year, my local technical college offered American Production and Inventory Control Society workshops on operations management, fundamentals, resource master planning and professional certification. At less than $200 for half-day sessions and $300 for full-day sessions, these workshops were relatively inexpensive.