How do you handle the training of your people?

With all the down turn in the workplace, people now doing multiple tasks and jobs, you hear that there just does not seem to be enough time to do anything...especially invest in the people we have. No matter what kind of employer sponsored employee investment program there is, that budget or time allotment always seems to be the first cut.


One of the types of investments that go easy by the waste side is additional training to make them (the employee) more efficient at their current task or new ones they were assigned to them. Whether it is taking some classes at night, classes online, e-learning, or attending a multiple day live conference that little investment (cost of the program, travel, expenses, etc) could end up paying big dividends for the company in both the long and short run. The employee feels a sense of empowerment knowing the company is taking an interest in them, it gets them interacting and networking with other people outside of the company which in turn may allow them to look at problems and situations in a different light. How many times have you heard “but we always do it that way”.

You can also look at outside classes/events as new employee training for certain programs. If you find a training class/program that, you have attended in the past, maybe someone you know has attended or one that has a good reputation use this avenue for initial empowerment. What better way to get your new employee off to a good start when they realize that they are already on the company’s mind and they (company) want them to succeed. The overall cost may even be lower than doing everything in house besides the finding time to train people.

Over the year Hill Engineering has been fortunate to be involved in many live conferences within the roll forming industry at stand alone events like the Fabricators and Manufactures Association’s World Class Rollforming or conferences in a industry specific show like FABTECH or Metalcon. The positive feedback and energy we get back from the attendees during and after the programs is always a hugh lift, and reinforces to us that this still is an excellent and exciting path to choose for training.

Another option for a win / win situation would also be to contact the programs coordinators or trade associations to see if you could possibly negotiate some standard rates for your company for one or across the board type training that could possibly even lower your overall training costs no matter if it is one perons or a group of people.



I believe I heard or saw this somewhere “A company makes a product, but the people make the company” and I still believe that today. Let us know what you think...

How we connect to our customers now...

Trade shows to the internet to social networking, I have been wondering lately which is the best way to connect with current and potential customers?

When I started working at Hill Engineering in 1988 the company had a pretty aggressive marketing strategy for a smaller company consisting of 2-4 trade shows per year, speaking at the roll forming conferences and had a very busy advertising schedule. Even though at times it was hard to put an exact number for the ROI it would be amazing how many people who contact us the first time say "I saw your advertisement", "you sent me information from a request out of a magazine", "I saw Mr. Don Hill speak at a conference".

Back before Al Gore created the internet most people in the manufacturing industry would find out about new products by reading the trade magazines, possibly visit an industry specific trade shows or technical conference.

As we got into the 90's and the power of the internet was at its starting point companies started having websites because that was the thing to do, but it also offered another avenue of advertising and then ordering your merchandise on line....that I am sure most people did not now that it would lead to where we are at now.

With advertising budgets thinned down in most companies due the most current economic down turn, companies have been turning to an avenue that has taken off in the past few years....social networking. There are many different styles of networking now, My Space, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, just to name a few.

Mr. Dan Davis the editor-in-chief at FMA communications Inc wrote a nice editorial in the August 2009 Fabricator addressing this issue with a rundown of some of the different media's and as we at Hill Engineering and our sister companies in the Formtek Group have been embracing this type of technology I wonder are we adding to our industry base? With no doubts we are seeing different types of people and companies viewing our pages and some of these contacts we would not have reached by seeing at one of our trade shows or conferences but is the typed words or graphics on a page the same as shaking a person’s hand, greeting them with a smile, and conversing.......what do you think???

Paul Williams
Sales Manager-Hill Engineering