HRMG 3001 Week 7 Training Needs Proposal Example

Training a Second CNC Router Operator at Birchline Cabinet Works: The Evidence of Idle Days, a Three-Level Needs Analysis, a Six-Week Plan and How the Shop Will Know It Worked

Student Name

Walden University

HRMG 3001: Human Resource Management

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Training a Second CNC Router Operator at Birchline Cabinet Works: The Evidence of Idle Days, a Three-Level Needs Analysis, a Six-Week Plan and How the Shop Will Know It Worked

The Evidence

Birchline Cabinet Works, the composite Spokane cabinet shop from earlier weeks, has one CNC router operator. The router cuts every cabinet part the shop builds. The production log for the past twelve months shows the router idle on eleven working days when the operator was sick, on vacation or at a family emergency. On eight of those days, at least one order shipped late, and on most of them the shop lead reported reassigning assemblers to sweeping and sanding because there were no cut parts to assemble. At six assemblers and about $26 an hour, a day of idle assembly costs the shop more than $1,200 in wages alone, before late-delivery costs.

Needs Analysis

Goldstein and Ford (2002) recommend examining a training need from three angles: the organization as a whole, the work itself and the individual worker.

Organizational level. The gap matters now because the shop has taken on two contractors who order kitchens on tight schedules, and the owner plans to add a second shift next year. A shop that stops whenever one person is out cannot promise contractors reliable dates.

Task level. Operating the router involves four tasks: loading cutting files from the design software and checking them against the work order; setting up tools, including changing bits and measuring tool length; loading and securing sheet material on the vacuum table; and running a test cut and checking dimensions before running a full sheet. The current operator also performs basic maintenance, such as cleaning the dust collection and checking the vacuum pump, and knows how to recover from a stopped job.

Person level. Of the six assemblers, two already have related skills. One has used the design software to check drawings, and one ran a smaller router at a previous job. Both have expressed interest. Neither has set tools on this machine or run a full sheet. Choosing two trainees rather than one is deliberate. If only one assembler were trained, the shop would simply move its single point of failure from one person to another during the weeks the original operator is away, and a single trainee who left would take the whole investment with them.

The Training Plan

Trainer. The current router operator, with two hours a week of support from the machine maker's technician by video call during the first two weeks.

Trainees. The two assemblers identified above.

Schedule. Six weeks, with each trainee spending two half-days a week at the router. Weeks 1 and 2: safety, emergency stops and loading files, with the trainee watching and then loading files while the operator runs the machine. Weeks 3 and 4: tool setup and sheet loading, with the trainee doing each step and the operator checking. Weeks 5 and 6: full runs, with the trainee running the machine and the operator present but not intervening unless needed.

Materials. The machine maker's operator manual, a one-page checklist for each task written by the operator and a log in which trainees record each job they run.

Cost. About 96 hours of trainee time and 96 hours of operator time away from regular work, plus the technician's support, which is included in the shop's service contract. At current wages, the time costs about $5,200.

Measurement

The shop will know the training worked at two levels. First, each trainee must run a standard kitchen job alone, from file loading to final cut, with no dimensional errors, by the end of week 6. Second, over the following twelve months, the log should show no days the router sits idle for lack of an operator. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2006) describe the second kind of measure, a change in business results, as the most meaningful evidence that training worked, because it shows the new skills are being used.

Risks and How the Plan Handles Them

Two risks stand out. Production may dip during the six weeks, because the router runs more slowly while trainees learn; scheduling training sessions on the shop's lighter Monday and Friday afternoons limits the loss. The second risk is that the current operator, as the only expert, may feel the training threatens his position. The owner should present it as a promotion of his role to trainer and lead operator, and the proposed pay structure supports that by keeping him at the top of grade 3.

Why This Is Worth Doing

The training would pay for itself in about five idle days avoided. It also opens a path: under the shop's proposed pay structure, the router operator sits in a higher grade, so trained assemblers can move up without leaving the shop (Dessler, 2020).

References

Dessler, G. (2020). Human resource management (16th ed.). Pearson.

Goldstein, I. L., & Ford, J. K. (2002). Training in organizations: Needs assessment, development, and evaluation (4th ed.). Wadsworth.

Kirkpatrick, D. L., & Kirkpatrick, J. D. (2006). Evaluating training programs: The four levels (3rd ed.). Berrett-Koehler.