Supervisory training that has turned a profit

Abstract

As a manufacturer of float glass in an international market, Pilkington Glass Limited begins a multi‐faceted approach to improving its quality and reducing its costs to cope with increasing competition. Explains how, with cost cutting, there inevitably came downsizing and a need for increased skill training of its workforce. A supervisory training programme was designed and implemented to increase supervisors’ skills in specific manufacturing‐related areas that support the main goals of increasing quality and cutting costs. Through a small‐group action‐learning design, supervisors completed projects which produced bottom‐line contributions to the organization which more than paid for the programme itself. Maintains that other evaluative indicators were equally positive, such as trainee responses to the training, the achievement of NVQs leading to pay‐grade increases and the acceptance of the approach by top management.