Challenge

Dana asked The Ohio State University Alber Enterprise Center to create a structured workforce training program covering every aspect of the machinery. Most of the technical expertise rested in the minds of the “expert” operators, not the out-dated technical documentation. Not traditionally covered by educational institutions, the Alber Center had to create the program from scratch.

Solution

The Alber Center selected one of its partners, Proactive Technologies, Inc., to study the clevite line operator position from top to bottom. During the analysis, it was apparent that the job classification was far more broad and complex than management anticipated. Once the data was reviewed by incumbent management and clevite line operators, not only were the best practices for each of the clevite line workstations documented, so were the core skills and abilities, the safety considerations, the reference documents and associated data to generate a comprehensive HRD approach. Incumbent workers were assessed to job mastery of the listed tasks, establishing individualized, customized training models. New employees embarked on a rigorous structured training program that accelerated the process, cut the employer’s internal costs of training, and ensured a consistency of training from shift to shift. The company receives monthly training progress reports charting the closing of the “capacity” gap in reaching full job mastery. The Alber Center, in addition, provided on-site courses to support the shoring - up of foundation skills upon which to build job mastery.

Results

By working so closely with the Alber Center, we know that the program we developed matches the job. Operators learn the right way to perform tasks the first time. More important, employees take pride in working towards, and achieving, full job mastery,” said Jerry Donahue, Plant Manager at Dana -McConnelsville. The system and software used in this project has helped us comply with our ISO and QS programs, providing the documents to support us in any audit.Dana - McConnelsville continues to implement its clevite line operator workforce development program, and are now working on a similar program for furnace repair. Recently, a sister Dana plant in Caldwell, Ohio asked the Alber Center to develop HRD programs for its manufacturing positions there as well. “Our staff is excited about this approach. This will meet our manufacturing needs so well that we feel that our organization will benefit in areas far beyond training,” claimed Allen Wojcik, Human Resources Manager at Dana-Caldwell.