Creating a Robust Global Employee Training and Value System

Medical device contract manufacturers and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers often serve as extensions of their customers’ manufacturing operations.

Done correctly, that provides original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) access to a global range of resources. However, OEMs might ask, “Do subcontracted factory personnel really reflect a consistent level of training and shared values?”

The answer should always, of course, be yes. However, the journey to achieving that level of consistency in a mix of greenfield and acquired facilities in a wide range of labor markets is not easy.

This article examines a framework for deploying a training framework that ensures standardized skills and values among all facilities, yet is flexible enough to address location-specific training needs.

No matter where an employee is in the world, he or she should feel connected with the corporate vision and guiding principles. Part of that philosophy is that all employees should share in the company’s successes both financially and through personal growth and fulfillment. From a human resources (HR) perspective, that philosophy should foster an organizational structure that supports development of personal skills that maximize employees’ ability to respond to customers on their own terms. Employees should be taught to respond flexibly based on customer and geographic needs.

Making this model requires a multi-tiered approach which includes:

• A global HR council that reviews programs, best practices and areas for improvement;
• A core leadership development curriculum tied to the corporate vision and guiding principles;
• Additional facility-specific training programs related to technical skills and processes; and
• A 360-degree survey process designed to both measure employee progress and identify areas of focused training need.

Establishing Best Practices

At Kimball Electronics, for example, the HR council meets via teleconference and WebEx monthly, and it sponsors periodic internal HR conferences. The group defines a global training plan aligned with corporate objectives and identified needs. It also shares best practices. For instance, in Poland, employee survey responses indicated concerns about slowness in hiring required employees. The company’s HR department analyzed the issue and developed a manual for hiring managers. The manual was presented as a best practice at a recent HR conference meeting and was provided to all facilities for use to improve their practice.
 

Members of the HR team from Kimball Electronics’ Mexico division pulling together their recruiting improvement implementation plan during the company’s Global HR Conference. Photo courtesy of Kimball Electronics.

In another best practice example, the HR department in Tampa, Fla., initiated a Kaizen event that drove creation of a training boot camp for corporate vision and guiding principles leadership training.
The Jasper, Ind., facility shared ways that it uses technology to improveefficiency in assessing HR requirements and convenience in employee benefits signup. The Nanjing, China, group shared its capability matrix process, whichsupports organizational skills, and the Laem Chabang, Thailand, team discussed employee engagement strategies related to Lean and 5S, which has helped thelocation win a Labor and Welfare award four years in a row. The Reynosa, Mexico, facility holds the distinction of having the lowest employment turnover percentage and shared its technical training program led by the Black Belt team, which supports excellent communication of best practices to all employees.

There is a company-wide leadership development model. It outlines organizational trust behaviors and leadership skills, all of which roll up to the corporate vision and guiding principles. Some organizational trust behaviors and leadership skills are to listen first, clarify expectations and extend trust, strategic vision, goal setting, disciplined execution and risk-taking.

Training & Evaluation

The curriculum fostering these behaviors and skills varies by level of management. Supervisors receive formal training in a range of leadership and interpersonal skills. Managers’ training is focused more on time management and effective project management. Leaders are focused more on strategic vision oriented courses, with executives attending educational workshops at the company’s biannual strategic planning meetings.All levels of leadership receive training in performance management, championing diversity, core values, core skills, current incentive programs, sustainability and structured panel interviewing. The end result is a shared framework of knowledge and values.

From a training development perspective, the company plans are based on a five-quarter rolling review of leadership development requirements across the company. Regional vice presidents have specific areas of focus based on regional needs. As an example, the goal for North America is to have every indirect employee achieve a basic understanding in Lean in 2012. They also are driving continuousimprovement techniques down to every employee. The regional vice presidents share best practices twice a year and meet monthly by conference call to reviewoperational metrics

Vision and Guiding Principles surveys are administered globally every two years to allow for time to implement corrective actions. The survey provides group leaders and production unit leaders with 360-

degree feedback on softer management skills. This is done throughout the organization and it drives unique group action plans based on the feedback. The surveys are staggered among the individual plants and shared services group to allow forprocessing time.

The surveys help identify uniquefacility training needs. For example, in arecent survey in Poland, it became clear that interpersonal skills training would bevaluable. Polish culture placed higher value on work ethic and accomplishing goals, and less on softer interpersonalrelationship management skills. Thesurvey allowed HR to measure howsupervisors and managers were improving their management skills. HR trackedrating trends the same way it tracksmetrics for on-time delivery or quality, and this helped the staff to realize theimportance of this area of management skills. There has been significant visible improvement over time.¹

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Great employees exist in all labor markets and salary isn’t the only way to attract them. While compensation must be competitive with the market, employees also aremotivated by the overall work environment. The company’s focus on shared values and skills, combined with focused career development planning, helps ensure consistency and a commitment to excellence among all facilities. That has translated to belowmarket turnover rates and improvedproductivity per employee. From an OEM standpoint, the message is clear: Ourcustomer is our business; we are a partner in their value stream and brand identity. A well-aligned employee and customer satisfaction strategy is reinforced by values, skills and productivity in our locations.

Reference:

1. Mucha, S.E., “Investing in Employees is Still in Vogue,” Circuits Assembly, April 2010.

Julie Dutchess is Kimball Electronics Group’s global human resources director. She can be reached at [email protected]. Headquartered in Jasper, Ind., Kimball Electronics is an electronic manufacturing services company that focuses on the medical, automotive, industrial and public safety industries.