In the past few years, technological advancements and other shocks (like the COVID-19 pandemic) have completely transformed the structure and functioning of manufacturing industries. It has thrown a gamut of challenges right on their way. For instance, frequent changes in government regulations, new regulatory standards & protocols, shortage of qualified professionals, increasing pressure to innovate, workplace safety challenges, etc., have made the survival of manufacturing industries difficult. To overcome these challenges, one needs a learning management system or an LMS. An LMS can bridge the gap between learning and working, i.e. it can integrate training with work. This can improve the operational efficiency of manufacturing industries and help employees become more productive and tech-savvy. You can use Convergence Training to identify skills and compliance gaps and provide the best online training to employees. The following are the reasons why manufacturing industries need an LMS:
1. Bridge skill gap
The skills gap refers to the difference between skills that employers demand and the skills that the employees possess. The skills gap is the major problem that the manufacturing industry is facing right now. Many job positions remain vacant in this sector because, in the labor market, workers lack manual, operational, and technical skills, knowledge, or expertise. The recent use of LMS has completely overhauled the training process of the manufacturing industry. It has made learning more flexible, affordable, and accessible. It provides just-in-time learning to workers on the go.
2. Minimize training costs
Training workers isn’t easy as it requires huge spending and investments by industries. For instance, arranging for the venue, bringing workers spread across different locations to a central location, hiring subject matter experts, maintaining paper-based records, maintenance of the building and other infrastructure, etc., calls for immense time and spending. To keep the training costs low, an LMS is needed. It is a cost-effective way to provide training to workers. It considerably brings down the training costs by reducing the trainer’s fee, assessments cost, material costs, etc. By narrowing down such costs, you can provide equitable and affordable training to all.
3. Training new employees
Manufacturing industries need fresh talent who, with their fresh ideas, can contribute to the overall success of the industry. New employees bring new energy and new perspectives with them. However, training them is a herculean task because they take time to absorb new information. An LMS can be of great benefit to manufacturing industries by streamlining the entire training process. For example, an LMS can help in onboarding new workers. With an LMS, you can ensure that new employees quickly learn about the industry’s goals, vision, and other regulatory standards and protocols. You can also create a step-by-step guide for viewing documents and filling out forms.
4. Ensuring compliance
Manufacturing industries need to ensure regulatory compliance and corporate compliance to ensure workplace safety. The broad areas of compliance include product safety, environmental safety, IT safety and security, health safety, etc. Using an LMS, the manufacturing industry can create highly engaging and interactive eLearning courses that foster compliance training. The compliance training content can be made available in multiple formats like videos, animations, mini PDFs, which makes learning more fun and exciting.
5. Product portfolio management
Developing products rapidly and moving them into the marketplace is vital for industrial growth and development. Manufacturing industries need to constantly develop and redevelop products to give an edge to their competitors. If workers are engaged in regular work without training, they won’t be able to devote time to think, innovate and create extraordinary products. Product development is very challenging as it requires workers to do research, build designs, create prototypes, test the product, and record results. However, an LMS can decrease the cognitive load of workers by providing product designing training modules in a short and crisp format. When the eLearning resources are packed into small packets, it becomes easier for workers to consume information. Apart from this, LMS supports mobile learning that allows workers to learn anytime and anywhere. Thus, it helps them to manage work and training simultaneously.
6. Keep training procedure safe
In manufacturing industries, employees have to operate machines that require following certain safety precautions. The old employees possess knowledge and understanding of handling machines, but the new employees need to be trained rightly. Using an LMS, you can provide theoretical knowledge of operating machines safely. Through virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) integration in the LMS, the employees can practically implement their knowledge and acquire the best possible training.
Conclusion
In manufacturing industries, offline training cannot be replaced by online training, but the latter can help in overcoming the above-mentioned challenges in employee training. Hence, modern problems in the manufacturing industries need a modern solution like an LMS.
