Binney & Smith's Comprehensive Training Requirements
Colored With Broad Professional Offerings by NCC

"Our relationship with Binney & Smith has proven that we can offer a comprehensiveness of services not available everywhere," says Kent. "In 1997, we started at square one and helped the company reduce its job classifications from 30 to 12. We then provided the skills assessment testing for Binney employees and helped them get the skills they needed to round out their industrial maintenance knowledge. We did it right, by involving employees right from the beginning and providing opportunity along the way."

"At Binney & Smith, we are proud of our skilled trades employee orientation, and of taking an interest in employees' educational growth," says Barry McNeal, Plant & Facilities Engineering Coordinator. "The Industrial Maintenance Skills Program designed for us by Northampton includes credit courses so that our people are motivated to obtain specialized diplomas or degrees, which we have seen success. B&S pays for the training." Courses included are Maintenance Hydraulics & Pneumatics, Basic Electricity, Intro to Computers, Industrial Math & Measurement and Rigging & Equipment Installation, among others. Instructional time can range from 24 to 75 hours depending on the course.

"In addition to the Industrial Maintenance training at NCC, there is also critical in-house training," says Mike Miletics, manager of Plant & Corporate Engineering. "Some of the training helps Binney remain compliant, such as the lockout/tag out training needed for equipment operators or HazMat and OSHA training, which are also carried out on our campus, or environmental, health and safety training. We do not need to keep trainers on our payroll but look to Northampton to keep us current on regulations." Miletics also noted that much of the new training is covered by "customized job training" grants from the state.

Push for Quality: Team Building, Sweating the Small Stuff

At another level of the corporation, quality is the focus. Team Development Specialist, Mike Polkowski, hired in 2002, is responsible for developing structured manufacturing floor teams. As he sees it, "This area wasn't getting the attention it requires," says Mike. "Floor teams sweat the small stuff, such as output, safety and quality measurements. They meet monthly, develop their goals based on larger corporate objectives, and go from there. NCC, up against a number of national trainers, won the business. In essence, they give our people the tools in their tool bags to get the job done on the manufacturing floor." The company's effort is funded by a $260,000 CJT grant from the Commonwealth.

By working with NCC's Don Robertson and Donna Goss, co-directors of the Leadership Development Institute, Mike and Binney's group of team managers, schedulers, quality engineers, safety manager and human resource specialists meet every two months or so to take training important to the manufacturing process. A highlight of the training has been the "Practices of Successful Leaders" seminar. It provides focus for B&S employees to develop action plans defining the specific next steps they need to take to enhance their own leadership capabilities.

"Leadership and communication training provides other good external benefits as well," continues Mike. "With 600 hourly employees and 26 team developers, our corporate success is dependent on our teamwork success. Having some of that spill over into the community is not a bad thing." Mike reports that Binney has hired 40-45 new full-time core employees this year as a commitment to keeping manufacturing in Pennsylvania. "When we make the investment in core employees here, we get better skills, higher commitment, less turnover and less re-training," he says. "There is a commitment to our people here that training and development reinforces. With approximately 100 hours per employee in meeting and training time each year planned, it's assumed that measurements and results from these efforts will be forthcoming."

Obsessed with Consumer Needs: Future Success Lies in Continuous Improvement

  Anjan Bhavsar, manager of Plant Electrical & Computer Systems at B&S, expresses the corporate philosophy. "Continuous improvement is necessary for Binney to stay competitive. We must always look at ways to drive costs out and to keep quality in to be successful. This means that capital investments in new technology will drive the need for education. As we look to the future, lean manufacturing will require employees to enhance their skills, to move to more highly skilled jobs."

"It's been a great partnership," says Peg Ovsak, director, Human Resources, Binney & Smith. "The College does a great job in identifying our needs for our team managers in leadership development and in skills development at the technical level. All of this directly impacts our employees, and this positively impacts our results."

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