Without a doubt, the greatest trend in training for manufacturing skills has been an investment in portable options.
As manufacturing continues to grow in the US, schools and training centers are looking for ways to educate more learners for a growing number of job vacancies. Yet this endeavor carries a number of hurdles, a key one being space.
For schools, classroom space can be difficult to come by. Co-ops have the added challenge of finding a way to share equipment among member schools.
For industrial employers, it can be more time- and cost-efficient to train employees onsite rather than sending them to the local technical college. But finding the space or having multiple facilities can make this difficult.
As a result, more and more schools and training centers are looking to mobile learning and portability as the solution. But how to implement portability without compromising quality?
This checklist will help ensure any mobile learning lab has the key features to deliver world-class training to students and employees.
Instructors shouldn’t have to worry about whether their equipment will make it safely from one classroom or building to the next. True portability takes into account ease of setup/teardown, quality of the protective case, and ease of transport.
Amatrol’s portable trainers come in sturdy rolling pelican cases for easy setup and portability. The cases feature a collapsible handle and wheels that make moving them easy. Multiple latches securely fasten the workstation’s durable lid during transport to protect the system components.
Learners shouldn’t be limited in the potential skills they can acquire. That’s why Amatrol challenged its engineers to design portable trainers to deliver the same skill outcomes in every competency as the full-sized systems.
And there’s no difference in quality, either. These portables teach the same knowledge and hands-on skills using industry-standard components.
Competencies include:
A number of these trainers also come in Troubleshooting versions using FaultPro fault insertion. In total, there are over 20 portable training options available.
Curriculum support ensures training is standardized and of the highest quality. Amatrol’s eLearning library contains over 3,000 hours of course content coming from a team of 50 experts building and improving curriculum daily.
While portable trainers provide hands-on learning, eLearning engages the mind through reading, audio, video and multimedia interactions with the software. It provides subject area knowledge for each competency so the learner can have a holistic view of each concept.
Multimedia eLearning is customizable, caters to each learner’s pace and knowledge-level and teaches and assesses virtual skills in addition to hands-on physical trainers.
While each portable trainer focuses on a specific competency area, the Skill Boss teaches and assesses over 60 skills in a single trainer. It features a genuine Allen-Bradley HMI and is fully programmable with interchangeable components. It is a perfect way to teach how each individual skill works together in a system.
Additionally, the Skill Boss is an industry-certified assessment and training tool for the Certified Production Technician Plus certification. Learners earning a CPT certification can apply their knowledge on the Skill Boss to receive the additional certification.
As a benefit for both high schools and employers, learners can earn transcripted credits to 16 technical colleges in Wisconsin as well as many others across the Midwest. These colleges are using the same course curriculum, portable trainers and eLearning platforms, so students can easily transfer their knowledge and skills.
Educators and employers searching for the right mobile learning solution will certainly consider space, budget and skills learned. Many training systems out there meet those requirements, and yet the learner will still come away without a certified assessment and validation of the skills they worked so hard to gain.
So a key factor to a solution’s quality is whether or not the training provides industry-recognized certifications.
With Amatrol’s mobile learning, students can earn certifications through the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) and NIMS for production careers.
Students and employees can walk away with verified proof of their new skills – something they can add to their resume or use to gain a promotion or pay raise.
