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38 SMT Magazine • August 2017 • It's all too common to have a superstar in your employ and focus training and development on that person, but to be effective, training must be widespread • We have created a tuition reimbursement program for personal professional development • Supervisors must identify training needs and fill them. Someone, somewhere in your organization should be in training right now • Let trainees become trainers. Nothing teaches like teaching • Kata – train until a process becomes habit Since the beginning of our Lean journey, over two years ago, we have initiated more than 50 kaizen events, carefully selected to make im- provements that will contribute to our goal. Ini- tially, these events were chaired and run and peo- pled by supervisors and leads, or engineers. And while these events were deemed successful, we have changed tack and instead now select partic- ipants who are users of the process under review. They are given the training needed to properly effect process change. This ensures the presence of a subject matter expert during the event and includes employees in the development of solu - tions to our everyday problems. In doing so, we are creating an army of problem solvers rather than a facility full of people waiting to receive di- rection from someone who may not be as famil- iar with the process as they are themselves. The training becomes its own reword. We have a proverb posted in our Lean project-man- agement office: "Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll un- derstand." One, two or 10 people cannot drive cultural change. It requires empowerment, en- gagement, and consistency until it takes on a life of its own. Our early events involved convincing and coercion of employees to attend projects. But given even a modicum of success, employees were ready to join the next team and often requested to be involved. When their co-workers saw the change, and heard the success stories, they too be- came willing participants in the movement. Training allows employees a higher sense of self-worth. It gives them confidence and the knowledge needed to transform the world around them. It can eliminate the need for close supervision. It eliminates employee frustration and eventual disengagement due to feelings of being powerless to effect change. Although it may be more difficult to mea- sure, a well-trained and empowered workforce will do more to drive quality, cost effectiveness, and continuous process improvement than the newest, sleekest, and fastest automation on the market. SMT Editor's Note: For more information on Incito Man Lean Simulation training, click here. Daniel Prina is the project manager of Lean enterprise and continuous improvement at MC Assembly. MC Assembly Training Video MC Assembly recently completed, in our Florida and Massachusetts facilities, Incito Man training for all employees in addition to 150 employees that received this train- ing in its Mexico facility. This program is an introduction to product flow, value stream mapping, and Lean manufacturing. The training involved a live simulation room, wherein the employees were instructed to build 30 robots out of Legos in 15 minutes. To watch the video, click here. EMPOWERING THE WORKFORCE THROUGH TRAINING: AN INVESTMENT RETURN