Stephen Berry President of SMT Interviewed Regarding Role of Community Colleges

PRLog (Press Release) - Oct. 31, 2012 - Scientific Management Techniques (www.scientific-management.com) is the global leader in performance-based skill assessments for industry. The assessment capabilities, together with demand-driven skills training program, are used in manufacturing and education organizations in thirty-one countries to solve the skills shortage and drive industrial productivity.

Stephen Berry, President of SMT, stated, "It has become clear that 'solution driven' community colleges like Southwest, collaborating with local industry, are positioned to deliver targeted training that will dramatically improve workforce skills as well as deliver the requisite productivity improvement for manufacturers. Working with Memphis manufacturing stakeholders, Southwest is proactively leading the way and delivering the model solution for other schools. Schools are working closely with manufacturers and workforce professionals to improve employability and industrial performance."

Manufacturing journalist, Thomas R. Cutler, recently reported for AutomationMedia.com, in a feature article titled, “Called Boiling Point? The Skills Gap In US Manufacturing,” that Scientific Management Techniques (SMT) and Southwest Tennessee Community College collaborated to design and deliver a highly effective solution to the industrial skills shortage in the Memphis market. This model has national implications to solving the skills gap within the next year.

The hands-on training curriculum developed by SMT is unique in the industry. With hands-on training aids and interactive exercises, SMT trains to specific skillsets required for students to become productive members of the manufacturing team. Graduates are driving productivity for local manufacturers and feedback from Memphis employers is remarkable. The skill assessment component is critical to the program's success. The hands-on assessments identify mechanical instinct and aptitude pre-training; post-training assessments provide data to quantify the effectiveness of the training program and identify graduates as job-ready.

For forty years Scientific Management Techniques, www.scientific-management.com, has delivered industrial skills training and assessment services. The assessment capabilities, together with demand-driven skills training program, are used in manufacturing and education organizations in thirty-one countries to solve the skills shortage and drive industrial productivity. SMT's founder Richard Whouley explained the evolution from industry to formal education, noting, "We delivered training in industrial facilities for many years in several countries prior to the introduction to the education market. Several manufacturing clients suggested that local community colleges embrace the SMT program based on the productivity improvements realized using the training system."

Getting Labor the Needed Skillsets Rapidly

SMT achieves these objectives due to the demand-driven curriculum design and the extensive use of over two hundred (200) hands-on training aids. The on-going skills shortage mandates this robust curriculum and training methodology; it translates efficiently into formal education as schools work with industry to identify effective training solutions creating workers with the required skillsets. SMT continues to deliver training in industrial facilities and works closely with schools and community colleges.  

This approach allows the needed skillsets to be acquired quickly; in months, not years. Nowhere is that more urgent than among returning veterans. The US Department of Labor recently reported that 10.9% of post-9/11 military veterans are unemployed. That significant two-plus percentage points, higher than the national unemployment rate, is simply an unacceptable. There are 2.2 million post-9/11 military veterans in the US and the only way to honor these brave men and women who served this country is to ensure they are equipped with the needed skills to capture gainful employment. John C. Churchill, Director of Corporate Training and Continuing Education for Southwest Tennessee Community College noted, "The skills of the military personnel are transferable to industry. In an 80 to 120 hour course they can be job ready and collecting a paycheck."  



Scientific Management Techniques Inc.
www.scientific-management.com
Stephen Berry, President
pr@scientific-management.com
603-421-0222