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Plant personnel decry lack of training

Although most participants in this summer’s training survey (see p. 116) had management roles, the same recognition of training also comes from the plant floor.

Several participants in Packaging World’s most recent salary survey (see PW, March, ’00, p. 30 or packworld.com/go/salary) listed training as a major dissatisfaction. What makes these comments so telling is that they came in answer to a general question asking about time priorities.

The production manager for a Southwest food company said his company’s “turnover rate doesn’t allow time for technical and personnel issues to be addressed.” The plant manager at a Midwest cosmetics maker would like to do more training but is hindered by both “a labor shortage caused by the low unemployment rate and daily production demands.” The maintenance manager at a Northeast foods company agrees. “We have too much turnover in maintenance,” he said. “I don’t have enough time to really teach new mechanics.”

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