Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/647109
30 SMT Magazine • March 2016 skills to ensure that they maintained an open and supportive attitude during the training pro- cess to align better with the way today's young- er generation is used to learning. A mentor program was also created on the production floor. People with strong expertise and good communications skills were hand- picked to act as mentors. Compensation was increased for these additional duties. Men- tors do their normal work, plus engage in new employee mentoring on an as-needed basis. A mentor training guide defines the correct ways to deliver and reinforce OJT training to ensure that the mentoring process is as consistent as the classroom portion of the training. This mentoring process is critical to setting a new employee up for success. It is also one of the aspects of new hire training that is commonly overlooked by the manufacturing community as a key element to employee understanding and satisfaction. The training program was completely re- vamped to include a larger OJT component, longer training period and slower introduc- tion to more advanced skills such as systems training. For the first two weeks, employees spend 2.5 days in class and 7.5 days being mentored on day shift. After the first 2.5 days of class, new employees get a training plan that maps out the course of their training over the next 60 days. They stay on first shift until they have com- pleted their initial two-week training period, rotating through mentors as they learn the pro- duction floor. Firstronic's holistic approach to Lean manufacturing principles requires a cross- trained workforce capable of moving among production areas as demand changes. During the 60-day training period, new employees receive classroom training that in- cludes general human resources-related train- ing on health and safety; basic production re- lated training on printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) handling, component identification, ESD protection and Kanban systems; and seven modules of IPC-A-610 certification courses. Toward the end of that period, they are in- troduced to the ERP system and taught to per- form the transactions necessary for their job functions. When new employees complete their train- ing, there is graduation "recognition." Color- coded smocks are used to denote employee clas- sifications on the production floor. Production operators and technicians who have completed training wear burgundy smocks. Quality per- sonnel wear black smocks. Trainees wear blue smocks. When an employee completes training, the blue smock is exchanged for a burgundy smock during a production floor communica- tion meeting. Trainees get excited about earn- ing their burgundy smock and it adds another layer of engagement with the team. The results speak for themselves. Turnover dropped by more than two-thirds, to 2.1% per month. Headcount has grown to 150 in produc- tion with a total of 200 employees at the facil- ity. A similar process is used in Firstronic's Juarez, Mexico facility and some of the changes made to the Grand Rapids program were a result of transferring engagement techniques used by the Juarez HR and training teams. The end result is greater employee engage- ment, lower turnover and a team focused on the responsiveness and quality their custom- ers expect. In combination with a Lean man- ufacturing focus, this highly trained work- force delivers industry leading metrics that include: • On-time delivery over 99.6% • Inventory turns between 12–14 • Gross margin >21% • Compound annual revenue growth rate >50% It really comes down to one simple concept in today's hiring environment: Design the on- boarding process with the goal of making em- ployees feel valued by the company. SmT Tony Bellitto is Firstronic's director of quality. He can be reached at tbellitto@firstronic.com. an onboardIng ProCESS Can buIld a Strong organIzatIonal CulturE