Modus Advanced: Now we have the best-trained manufacturing employees

Janet Becker is part of the 2017 Training Initiative Team charged with developing compliance training programs for Modus Advanced, Inc.

Modus Advanced is a leading manufacturer and distributor of performance materials and engineered solutions for the OEM marketplace.

Challenge

We are an international manufacturing company producing parts and gaskets for companies all over the world. One of our main mandates is to provide company-wide trainings to have the very best-trained manufacturing employees possible. We not only strive to bring the very highest total quality in everything that we manufacture for our customers, we also take pride in our highly-trained staff. We hold various international standards certifications; e.g., AS9100, ISO 9001, ITAR, etc.

Training is an integral requirement to holding these certifications, so we put a lot of emphasis on meeting and exceeding these requirements. With that goal at the forefront, we are presently creating an all-encompassing company-wide formal training program.

A waterjet is an industrial tool capable of cutting a wide variety of materials using a very high-pressure jet of water, or a mixture of water and an abrasive substance.

As a manufacturing company, we have many processes using machines that cost hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. These machines are robotic, which is great for manufacturing, but they also are extremely complicated and can be difficult to operate. Quality and precision are utmost for our company, and to provide that, we must have the most skilled people operating these machines. We never put someone on a machine without complete training or without an expert standing right beside them overseeing even the smallest piece of the process.

Solution

First of all, we looked at several LMS training companies and tested several solutions with which to develop our full-blown training initiative. Our President reached out to one of our customers and they recommended iSpring. They praised iSpring so highly that he said: “Just go with iSpring.” And so, we did.

We started our formal training module development last year. They are comprised of videos of our machines in action, text instructions, audio, etc. We are also developing training modules of all software data entry using screen recordings and voice overs. Our modules are extremely complete, ranging from data entry to screen lookup to machining. They are individual modules in an all-inclusive multi-step training which is easy to accomplish with iSpring! It does it all! Pretty slick!

We also use iSpring Learn LMS. After every single step in the training modules, you advance by taking a quiz. These quizzes are to demonstrate the employee’s competence and proficiency. When an employee is ready to learn a new and more complicated process, they are offered the opportunity to take the iSpring online trainings. We have also created certificates that they will receive after every completed training.  From there, they step up with an expert who works with them to finish learning the job through actual experience. This method absolutely encourages self-initiative and improves an employee’s value to the company. It’s a win-win for everybody!

The Result

I really want to say that iSpring is very intuitive. I recently added 47 employees to the LMS, not having any idea how to add employees or how to create groups. It was super easy and very intuitive.

The training and webinars provided by iSpring are very valuable; even when the subject may not be one that interests you, they’re still engaging and useful.  I have picked up many tips from the webinars by just spending one hour watching them.

And I’d like to highlight the iSpring support. It’s fabulous. I think it is really critical for new companies to realize that they are not taking this journey by themselves. iSpring Support ranks right up there with the best support from the best companies in the world!

Recommendations

I’m sure big companies use iSpring and it’s great for them. However, it is an affordable solution for small businesses, because it doesn’t cost a fortune. iSpring is as robust for a small company as it is for the larger companies. You get all the bang for your buck. And if your buck is just one iSpring license and one iSpring Learn license, that’s not a huge investment. iSpring is a very complex and robust training management system for any size company!

To all the beginners, I would advise you to poke around the iSpring software. Everything is extremely intuitive, the support documentation is very clear, but don’t hesitate to call support, because it’s always right there. So, jump in – the water is fine!