Volume III, Issue IX

Online Training Model Makes Strides

Whether you're an owner, a manager or a shopfloor metalworking professional, you know that training is critical to keeping your business—and you—competitive. The advantages of a well-trained workforce or a strong foundation of solid metalworking skills and knowledge can often determine if you're successful or "not good enough."

In a manufacturing environment, effective training means more than just having the information; what matters is the effective application of your resident knowledge. For managers, that means establishing benchmarks and goals, and the administrating and measuring of a program to determine success. For those with individual goals, it means learning within a sound structure, with stages and curriculum established to match career or business goals.

ToolingU (www.toolingu.com) was launched about a year ago, with the notion that you, as shop managers and aspiring machining professionals, could use assistance with your unique training needs. But recent improvements within the ToolingU model deserve your attention today, both for their usefulness and their inspirational qualities.

There are free trial classes that can be taken to experience the model from both an administrative and a student perspectives, including beginners' topics such as clamping, CNC and shop essentials (measurement, math and so on). By press time, ToolingU will have added to its courses to include metalforming and EDM. It has also expanded its article archive to include thousands of technical articles from numerous sources, including Modern Machine Shop.

Most important, ToolingU is evolving into a level of sophistication that administrators and managers of machining-focused personnel should be aware of, if not participate in directly.

Pay this site a visit. Become familiar with what it is doing and where it is going. Because odds are, you will one day use this online training model—or one like it.

Job Shop Site Of The Month

Jaycraft is a 40-year-old Spring Valley, California-CNC machining business that serves the commercial and aerospace industries. The site may not win any top design awards, but these folks do a whole lot more well than not. Look at Jaycraft's experiences in turning, milling and grinding. Check out its qualifications as an FAA Repair Station. Review its comprehensive equipment lists. Look at its "EZ Quote" RFQ utility, which allows for multiple attachments. It has even placed links to its corporate info at the bottom of its navigation. This site is well done where "well done" matters most.

To have your site considered for Job Shop Site Of The Month, send your URL to otw@mmsonline.com.