Why do training teams struggle to ensure only fully trained and qualified people work in their production operation at any given time, even with a great training team and LMS? We agree with SchemaTMS: because there are so many people, processes, changes, and approaches to training and certification for various roles and tasks. SchemaTMS has built a training and qualification software system designed around how each skill is actually developed in a plant.
Varied Training
Training, qualification, or certification requirements in complex manufacturing environments is not a single thing. Training often happens in different ways, and training records are stored and used in many systems. People, products, materials, and equipment often change regularly. Thus, it can be difficult to answer day-to-day questions such as:
- Who on this shift is trained in what?
- Is this person appropriate for the work they’re about to do next?
- How can we train employees on the job (OJT) for pressing work to meet a due date?
- Do we have someone on the next shift qualified to complete the work on this order and this part?
Companies cannot afford to risk late orders, mistakes that lead to poor quality, or being out of compliance for customer or regulator audits. With workforce skill shortages, training is constant and takes many forms, particularly in manufacturing operations. Traditional learning management systems (LMS) may not go to a granular enough level. Often, in addition to online training, plant associates should receive face-to-face training with a trainer on a tablet to validate learning, or OJT with materials, parts, equipment, and their personal protective equipment (PPE), while working on real orders.
Training and Qualification Software
SchemaTMS is SaaS software that adds rigor to defining job training requirements across different levels. Requirements are defined once for each level of the operation, from the company and plant down to a single line, and apply to everyone working there. When someone moves to a new
line, its requirements come with the job. Thus, when work is urgent, supervisors already know who is qualified and what anyone else still needs. Hands-on training can be broken into steps, each signed off as the trainee shows they can do it.
It tracks and logs all forms of training and shows status down to the employee-part level in real-time. SchemaTMS is realistic about the need to manage constant change, future training, and learning paths. Their approach is to do so at many levels in an automated fashion. As they say, “The idea behind SchemaTMS is simple: build the system around how skill is actually developed on a plant floor, not around how content is delivered.”
Matching the Need
This is quite different from the typical LMS approach, which delivers content in online courses and uses quizzes to assess learning. Plant skills are not all best learned in that way. So, SchemaTMS aims to support the full range of how plant skills are really taught:
- read-and-confirm for policies and SOPs
- instructor-led classroom training courses
- hands-on evaluations with a sign-off by a qualified trainer
- step-by-step on-the-job training in fixed or flexible order
- checklists for equipment sign-offs.
The goal is to tame the complex landscape and avoid searching outside the system to demonstrate appropriate personnel training and answer day-to-day staffing questions. Yet also not to pull people out of their jobs when the ideal qualification might be right at their workstation. Everyone is meant to use the same system – the frontline workers, supervisors, trainers, HR, and auditors.
Target Market
In production for several years, SchemaTMS serves customers in the automotive supply, food processing, energy, construction, and industrial adhesives sectors. Customers use it to manage training and qualifications within individual facilities and across multiple plants.
Customers tend to be companies ranging from F1000 enterprise-scale down to companies with 100 frontline employees. They are also often in regulated or high-skill, complex industries where training, cross-training, and employee requalification are normal needs. After the initial setup and training from SchemaTMS, a domain expert in operations, plant management, training, or safety can typically tailor the system to fit needs.
Our Take
Having worked on the plant floor and seen many dozens of complex manufacturing environments, I see the burning need for this. As the skills shortage in production does not seem to have an end in sight, companies will need to leverage their employees skillfully. Ensuring they are trained, qualified, and certified for various workstations, machines, products, and even parts or materials is crucial. If SchemaTMS customers continue to show success, we expect them to gain a more useful approach to keeping production running in a safe, reliable, high-quality, and predictable way.
Thank You
Thank you, John Stewart, for taking the time to introduce me to SchemaTMS. We look forward to following your vision for training and qualification software as it progresses in the market.