Employee Training and U.s. Competitiveness: Lessons for the 1990s by Lauren A. Benton

Author:Lauren A. Benton [Benton, Lauren A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Labor & Industrial Relations, Political Science, General
ISBN: 9780813380506
Google: hCuNDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 963895
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1991-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

Trends in Training in the Textile Industry: A Case Study

The general points made about training come into sharper focus when we examine changes in training in one firm. The company we take as our example is Swift Textiles, Inc., a subsidiary of the Canadian corporation Dominion Textile Incorporated, and now the largest denim manufacturer in the world. Swift followed the twin strategies of modernization and internal reorganization outlined earlier. In March 1987, the firm announced a $52 million plan to install state-of-the-art equipment, including air-jet looms, in its Columbus, Georgia, plants.15 At the same time, the firm expanded the number of denim weaves and colors, stepped up efforts to monitor and anticipate market changes, and moved toward establishing a quick response system.

The modernization program was the primary catalyst for changing training and introducing a new education program. Even some of the simplest production jobs now required that workers enter information on computer terminals. For example, the firm developed a system to record the causes of loom stoppages in order to prevent downtime for its expensive, high-capacity looms. But the system depended on the ability of loom operators to diagnose the problem and to enter a code corresponding to that problem on the loom's electronic control panel. These codes are listed on a multipage document. Thus, not only must these operators be able to read the codes, but they must be able to make some judgments about the causes of machine problems, not all of which are obvious. As one training manager said, "We are simply asking a lot more of these weavers than we used to." Even the loom cleaners, who are among the lowest paid workers in the plant, now must at least be able to read instructions and punch numbers on a key pad.

But the managers we interviewed in this firm see the need for more education in broader terms than simply providing the skills needed to perform specific tasks. The firm is in the midst of a major change in its technology and production processes. As one manager put it, one result of that change is that, "the plant has many fewer routine, repetitive jobs." The firm anticipates that the changes will continue, and believes that if its employees have a more solid basic education they will be better able to manage those changes. The training director described one worker whose job was still repetitive and who was still able to manage despite his inability to read, but added, "One day we will have to change his job and he is not going to be able to do it." The managers also believe that turnover would be lower in a better-educated work force.

One of the most dramatic changes caused by the upgrading program was an immediate need for dozens of fixers trained to repair and maintain the new equipment. The company found that some of the fixers they already employed could not keep up with the training, and there was a shortage of other workers who were adequately prepared and who might be promoted to the maintenance jobs.

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