When I started working the company I was first with for most of the 90's (a division of Beiersdorf) was fairly open with spending money on training and seminars.
I used to go the to the Institute of Industrial Engineers annual conference every year and the company would have trainers/consultants in about twice a year to do some in house training on various things ranging from safety to supply chain to relaxation techniques.

The next place was not quite as open for training but sent people to a lot of trade shows even if it was cross country.

Since then I've been to one big ASQ conference and I annualy go to the local chapter annual day long conference. And that's about it.
It was getting so hard to get points to re-cert in my ASQ certs that I threw my hands up and retested for one and let the other two lapse.

Is this typical of the manufacturing world in the US? Or is it just the companies I have chosen to work for since 1997 - all small or medium size companies.
Is the training a lot more expensive?

Reason I'm questioning this is that I was perusing the ASQ course catalog and just shaking my head... If I wanted to take a 4 day ASQ course we're talking about $2000+ with travel and accomodation.
Do I ask for that for myself or do I give one of my inspectors a deserved $1.00/hr raise?
(Either one is a battle here)

I suppose what I really need to do is get the President to commit to a training budget for my department.

I think what you're experiencing is typical.

Nowadays our training tends to me more targeted: focused on specific development paths with a development expectation for value to the organization. That is why I developed the Training Expense calculator and wrote Taming the Training Expense Monster it's in The Reading Room). If you can use that and the Quality Costs calculator to communicate value to your management in their language, you may enjoy more success in getting the training you desire. In any case it's good to exersize that process, as it can be used for a number of initiatives.

Now let's turn to you. It seems to me like a good time to ask yourself which of your ASQ certifications maintain value. Do all of them contribute to the knowledge base you need to work? Or do some of them build off the others--in which case the early certs can be let go?

As a personal example, I have let my CQE lapse, but I plan to recertify for CQA and pick up CQMgr.

I am in the training business for the last 22 years and I can tell you that it IS tough out there to get approval for training. In Ontario, Canada we have lost so many automotive suppliers in the last 5 years and the ones that are left have a NO TRAINING policy. Even if you had approval in a company, the training may not be available. There is just not enough participants to hold most public seminars anymore.

So what does one do in this situation.

Well, I have turned to online training with the hope that people from other areas would join but the concept is new. The few customers that still follow my training schedule are timid about trying it but it is going to be the way of the future. No more travel and hotels, just your computer and a phone line.

Good luck on getting approval.

Training is being cut back. We've noticed that in the past few years. As for attending seminars/shows etc., those are going the way of a lot of 'boondoggles'.

Training has rapidly become a commodity. How many sources are there for 'ISO Auditor Training", for example? - How many are actually any good, if you don't know what you're looking for and are new to the subject?

In my experience, training as a whole isn't given much thought to ensure 'bang for the buck'. I see plenty of companies who require "40 hours of training annually' or something equally bizarre, without consideration of what the purpose of the training is and its relevance to the person and the organization.

The whole process of looking into what training people require isn't difficult, but it takes time and understanding. How many organizations actually consider the three key 'phases' of training; -


What's required for the person to be a 'good citizen' in the organization
What's required for the person to do their job
What's required to develop/advance or grow the person


I'm also amazed at management who, in order to 'save time and/or money' send someone to a course and then tell them 'Now you can train everyone...":mg: It often happens at auditor courses. It's really a very dangerous way to save money on training. IMHO it's like asking your teen to teach the whole family to drive, just because they've been to driver ed.:mg: It doesn't consider if the person is any good at communicating with others, can express the concepts of what they learned in a manner which is relevant and meaningful to the trainees or what actual experience they bring to the whole training session. Can the people actually use what they've learned in-house'? And what did that saving cost?

The challenge is how to get the value from the training, which is delivered to the right people at the right time. It's difficult to do, so for most it's easier just to cut back on spending training $$
:2cents:

We do a lot of in house development training, but we also have a lot of people going to other seminars/conferences etc. Ask and you usually receive. We have a very strong commitment to education. I will also say that we are not your ordinary company though.

...

Training has rapidly become a commodity. How many sources are there for 'ISO Auditor Training", for example? - How many are actually any good, if you don't know what you're looking for and are new to the subject?

In my experience, training as a whole isn't given much thought to ensure 'bang for the buck'. ...

The whole process of looking into what training people require isn't difficult, but it takes time and understanding...

I'm also amazed at management who, in order to 'save time and/or money' send someone to a course and then tell them 'Now you can train everyone...":mg: It often happens at auditor courses. It's really a very dangerous way to save money on training.


The challenge is how to get the value from the training, which is delivered to the right people at the right time. It's difficult to do, so for most it's easier just to cut back on spending training $$
:2cents:


Wholeheartedly agree. In fact, in Oct I will present a program to the local ASQ section about "Training Effectiveness - the weakest process link in ISO 9001." The weakest process with the greatest potential...alas...

Many companies will come up with the number of hours that the staff must undergo training. They however do no not a clear idea on what is expected as the output. I agree with the point that we have to focus more on the effectiveness of the training to justify the training.

We have experienced a number of pretty tight years as far as training is concerned, but it has improved lately. Most of our training is in house.

/Claes

A major problem is that nearly every organization looks uopn training as a cost and not as an investment that has an expected return. Essentially they use this formula when figuring training costs.... Training = office supplies (cost = cost)

Judi and I went through the training cost thing about 10 years ago when I took my 1st Lead Auditor course. We both decided that training (education) was an investment that we couldn't pass up. We paid for my EMS-LA course out of pocket, I took vacation, and I did it. Consequently we have realized a return on that investment and our income has increased well over 2 1/2 times of what it was in 1997.

Organizations could (if they would) do the same, but many don't and consequently we will continue to see training = to a box of Bic's.

Here too !

I concentrate on imparting in house training - it reduces the training budget and also keeps the employees in place, if required.

This week, I am giving Healthcare related training and instead of imparting usually 2 full days, has spread over 4 days with half day daily. I have instructed the trainees to address all their work requirements in the morning and get prepared for my "bombarding" after lunch. I have included funny videos, jokes, case studies to make it interesting.