INDIANAPOLIS—The Association for Rubber Products Manufacturers is rolling out a series of rubber worker training videos on its website.
The organization said the videos, at www.arpminc.org, are an effort to assist companies in training and skill enhancement, which it said is an area of concern for manufacturers. A 2014 study by Accenture and the Manufacturing Institute found that nearly 40 percent of manufacturing executives surveyed designated the shortage of qualified applicants as severe, and around 60 percent said it is difficult to hire the skilled people they need.
“The most critical issue faced by the manufacturing community is the lack of a skilled workforce,” Letha Keslar, ARPM managing director, said in a statement. “We understand the importance of having knowledgeable staff and well-educated personnel throughout the entire business.
“ARPM also recognizes the difficulty in having employees travel out of the plant to participate in effective training courses, plus the need to train all types of shifts. Therefore, we have digitally enhanced the training CD's initially developed by the RMA-EPG that are accessible completely online.”
The ARPM said its Internet technology team has worked over the past year to review videos, create quizzes and develop a certificate of completion. Members have access to this program free via the ARPM website.
The four main areas covered within the training program are injection molding, material mixing, compression/transfer molding and extrusion.