To help manufacturers and businesses alike navigate the current health crisis or learn about lean, workforce development strategies, marketing tactics, and more from the comforts of their facilities, here are several webinars to keep you focused, positive, informed, engaged, and productive.
As experts in the field, we’ve seen and experienced every challenge and developed proven solutions. With a combined 300 years of experience, we are your go-to resource for Missouri manufacturing expertise. We are sharing this knowledge with you through a library of FREE webinars to help your manufacturing company grow and succeed:
Collaborating with Employees – Improving Culture and Processes
What style of leadership is required to promote collaboration, trust, and teamwork? Why is it difficult to change the culture of an organization in order to successfully implement Lean and Six Sigma? Join IndustryWeek Contributing Editor and author of The Façade of Excellence; Defining a New Normal of Leadership John Dyer as he discusses a simulation and case study that demonstrates the impact of management vs. leadership. This interactive session is provided by Missouri Enterprise, the state’s MEP Center, for everyone who wants to learn more about how culture, leadership, and trust impact Lean and Six Sigma sustainability and expansion.
How an Accelerated Manufacturing Training Program Creates a Pipeline of Talent
Despite some companies experiencing hiring freezes due to the pandemic, many manufacturers are needing to ramp up their workforce to keep up with production. In this webinar, we will highlight a workforce development program that we offer in joint coordination with job centers across the state to quickly train individuals for entry-level manufacturing positions. This five-day event is offered at NO COST to participating individuals as well as to manufacturers who interview and hire them. The presentation will provide an overview of the curriculum which includes blueprint reading, manufacturing concepts, soft skill development, Lean practices, and more. Additionally, we will have some guest speakers to share how this program works as well as how it helped their recruitment and retention efforts. Manufacturers are more desperate than ever to connect with skilled and motivated individuals. This course creates a pipeline of competent and eager workers who have a week of manufacturing skills and knowledge under their belts. It truly is a win, win, win for all involved.
Legal Guidance to Help Employers Navigate New Wellness/Health Policies
After a survey with Missouri manufacturers, we found that understanding wellness and health guidelines, as a result of Covid-19, is the top challenge. To help us walk through some of the major obstacles and gray areas on this topic as it relates to protecting our employees in the new Covid-19 era, we visit one of the most widely respected Human Resource attorneys, Ruth Binger. We tackle questions such as:
- Can employers require vaccinations?
- Can they be held liable if an employee contacts the virus at the workplace?
- Can a company require an employee to leave work if they seem ill?
First Steps to Reopening Webinar & Checklist
Recovery from this current crisis can be problematic. In this webinar, our Covid-19 Response Team highlights steps your company can take NOW to prepare for the reopening of Missouri’s economy. The webinar covers a high-level checklist that can be applicable to most if not all business models. We explore topics such as: Should we control gatherings in the workplace? What should I communicate to employees? Which job functions are essential and which are not? What training do we need? View the checklist here to get started.
Training Within Industry – Quickly Skilling Up Workers
Training Within Industry (TWI) is a dynamic program of hands-on learning and practice, teaching essential skills and standard work. TWI originated in the United States in the 1940s to boost industrial production of war material. By rapidly training unskilled workers, the production capabilities of US manufacturers exceeded expectations.
With the Defense Production Act declaration on March 20, 2020, TWI is a tool that can help manufacturers to alter production to support emergency preparedness and response activities, while creating a culture of continuous improvement and repeatable success. Crisis has created a need – how will your company respond to the call? Our TWI instructor LauraLee Rose shows us how TWI can help prepare new staff to take on a production role due to a shifting workforce, or as you use your existing team to begin production of new materials.
Training Within Industry – Job Instruction Breakdown
In this follow-up session, TWI instructor LauraLee Rose will provide a job instruction breakdown explaining “What it is” and “How to do it”. Similar to WWII, manufacturing is being forced to pivot to new products and processes and TWI can quickly skill up new or current workers. This event will be set up as more of a forum — we want to hear from you! Please be prepared to engage and ask questions.
How to Use ZOOM – a Crash Course
Communications & Marketing Manager Amy Susan takes us on a crash course on how to start using Zoom for meetings and webinars with clients, prospects and team members. We cover how to set up events, plug-ins, recording sessions, virtual backgrounds, screen sharing, chat features, exporting results and more.
Infectious Disease Planning
What can your company do to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and other infectious diseases? How do you respond if an employee is, in fact, infected? Employers should have in plan in place in anticipation that an employee will test positive at some point. April Schmidt, Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ), who has more than 14 years of experience working in the healthcare industry, answers these questions and more by sharing her knowledge with the business community on how to maintain a healthy and productive workforce despite the current health crisis.
Business Continuity Planning
The present crisis can be contained, and organizations can continue to prosper if they take proactive measures. Although our financial and manufacturing systems look robust, they are, in fact, very vulnerable, as the present crisis demonstrates. We cannot solve the virus attack, but we can take steps to mitigate its impact upon the organization and society at large. A proactive Business Continuity Management process can help us reassume the driver’s seat. Presenter Tom Gordon has a proven track record of success in the implementation of MRPII/ERP systems and quality management systems including ISO 9000 and ISO 27000, and has been working in manufacturing for nearly four decades.
Supplier Scouting Solutions
As that state’s MEP Center, we are engaged in the national Supplier Scouting Program which allows us to help companies source desperately needed products. In this presentation, our Supply Scout lead and Innovation Engineering Black Belt Dave Goebel explains how the program works and how our nationwide database can help Missouri manufacturers connect with materials, suppliers, and beyond. Do you have specific needs to meet the medical supply demand? We have a system to help.
Share this information with others within your company or within your network. Be safe. We are here when you need us. Connect with your Area Business Manager at any time.