Various industrial firms employ different types of engineers, technicians and equipment maintenance personnel that directly or indirectly deal with the reliable operation of the physical products or assets of the organization. However, many of these folks typically have little background in the successful use of different metallic materials that are at the heart of either the success or failure of most products and assets. Many organizations face a related problem. They have one or more well experienced persons that are knowledgeable in materials engineering areas but they, like many technical specialists, have already or soon will be reaching retirement age and will no longer be available to mentor the younger employees that remain. How will the less experienced personnel perform with their limited materials knowledge and experience and what will be the effects on the business?

Continuing education via short courses in materials engineering areas such as basic metallurgy, corrosion and the characteristics of different materials’ failure mechanisms -and how to avoid them- can serve a fundamental need that directly affects the P&L of the business. Such short courses will not make overnight experts out of the students but they will provide some well-known tactics that specialists know but that non-specialists may not or that they overlook. If these tactics are applied many costly mistakes can be avoided. There are numerous sources for such training and if done well the return on the investment is high. This is especially true if the training is conducted on-site at the organization so as to minimize time away from the job and eliminate the direct costs of travel for the attendees.

Is such training something your organization ought to consider?

Posted in: Industrial/Training Services