Focus on education and standards
The NAHAD Institute and hose assembly standards initiatives demonstrate NAHAD's commitment to quality
By Susan L.P. Srikonda -- Industrial Distribution, 4/1/1999
The development of both the NAHAD Institute and hose assembly standards are among the most important issues the association is currently addressing.The NAHAD Institute, an initiative to provide guidance and support to members' employee training and education efforts, is another step closer to completing its development of a comprehensive industry education program.
In its effort to provide members with a flexible model for building an individually tailored employee training and education program, the Institute has created a program called the Comprehensive Training Curriculum (CTC) and will complement that program by developing new training programs and services as necessary to meet members' needs. A team of industry consultants created the CTC to be a roadmap for members' to make decisions regarding how to invest in education to meet the needs of their employees.
On Saturday afternoon, the final draft of the CTC will be presented to all interested members. In its next phase, the CTC will be site-tested at distributorships throughout the country before being released for all NAHAD members' use.
The CTC is being developed to fill the existing gap in effective training programs available to NAHAD members.
"We've found that, unless you're a very large distributor, you typically don't have the luxury of having staff devoted to training," says John Mork, co-chair of the NAHAD Institute Task Force and president of Gooding Rubber Co. "NAHAD is trying to focus on the industrial rubber products distributor and really trying to identify their needs at all levels of [employees]. We're trying to help companies make their employees well-rounded."
Designed by a team of industry consultants and educators, the education model incorporates product and technical training, management leadership training, sales training, computer skills training and more. The CTC is based on measurable objectives and provides training for employees of all levels to both apply to their current positions and to grow in their careers. Training programs and courses offered by the Institute will include a variety of educational delivery mediums, including seminars, CD-ROMs, videos, computer-based training, and others.
"This model is very flexible. It can be used by a six-person or 600-person distributorship equally well," says CTC design team member Chuck Holmes of Corporate Strategies, Inc. "We've created a model that can be customized to any given business."
The CTC differs from typical "off-the-shelf" training programs because of its design flexibility, which allows each company to develop a multi-level approach to address the needs of management, sales and operations employees. Organized by position descriptions, the CTC asks distributors to begin by tailoring the provided position descriptions to their specific needs and then to match the skill and knowledge requirements to those positions in order to identify training needs. Finally, distributors will use a materials inventory to identify materials available for use in the training program.
Providing comprehensive training is one way for NAHAD members to address the persistent problem of finding and keeping quality employees.
"One of the things that studies show is that employees who feel they are growing in their jobs are the most likely to stay in their jobs," says Holmes. "And an even more important driver [behind the Institute] is that a lot of distributors are doing their own training which may or may not be effective, or is not recognized as being valuable by the people being trained. We think this will help both of those things."
Holmes says the CTC will help distributors develop effective training programs in three primary ways:
* Provide an easy-to-use tool for planning a training program
* Prioritize training so that employers can plan budgets and time
* Address training issues at all levels of employment, from the warehouse to senior management.
It is increasingly important to extend training beyond the sales staff to touch multiple levels of employees, Holmes says, "because more and more, other parts of our companies are dictating our relationships with customers. For example, currently no one trains warehouse or delivery people, but all of those people need to be trained and should be included."
The CTC team of curriculum developers includes: Dr. Jay Smith, professor of industrial distribution at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Dr. William McCleave, president of W.R. McCleave & Assoc.; Samuel Wermuth, P.E., president of S.S. Wermuth and Assoc.; and Holmes.
The NAHAD Institute Task Force includes: chairman Mork, and co-chair Joseph Mika of Goodall Rubber Co.; Chuck Connors of Omni Services, Inc.; Phil Giglio of Apache Hose & Belting, Inc.; Steven Gray of Gooding & Shields Rubber Co.; Bill Harr of Dana Corp.; and Edward Loke of Texcel.
Hose assembly standards
Members of the Assembly Standards Committee expect to complete the process of developing hose assembly standards, which began in 1993, by the end of this year or early in 2000.
NAHAD members initiated the development of hose assembly standards to better the quality and safety of hose assemblies in order to improve customer satisfaction. Most NAHAD distributors fabricate hose assemblies as part of their "value-added" process, says Joseph M. Thompson, Jr., NAHAD executive vice president.
When the Assembly Standards Committee was formed, the need for minimum quality and safety standards for hose assemblies was made evident by examples of leakage problems, safety problems and liability concerns, says Linda Murphy of Flex Enterprises, Inc., of Victor, N.Y., who was one of the founding members of the committee.
"For example," Murphy says, "at the time I'd talked to three or four different composite hose manufacturers and each had different procedures for coupling composite hose and often, if you went to hydrostatically pressure test the hose, water would leak through so slowly that it might not be detected. There was no way to measure the ends to make sure they were on properly."
The Assembly Standards Committee is hoping the new guidelines will encourage distributors to think differently about issues like pressure ratings, says Jim Brown of Uland Supply Co. of Louisville, Ky., and current chair of the committee.
"One of the things that has traditionally happened in the hose assembly business is that the pressure ratings on assemblies are derived from the rating on the hose itself," Brown says, "when in reality, the pressure rating of the assembly should be based on the weakest component in the assembly, whether that be the hose, the coupling or the attachment method chosen. For another example, it's also been common practice to use particular couplings for applications for which they were never designed."
Since its formation, the committee has completed development of standards for flexible metal hose assembly. The standards currently being developed are for industrial, hydraulic, composite and PTFE hose assemblies.
NAHAD members have much to gain from having documented hose assembly standards, Brown says.
"What you hope to gain is some protection from product liability problems, and a bigger gain is the credibility that would result from having industry accepted standards or a procedural guideline that would let buyers be assured that the assemblies they are purchasing will perform as expected," Brown says. "So you get credibility and, to some degree, value-added in a competitive world. Anything you can do to differentiate one product from another adds value."
The industry professionals who have worked on creating the hose assembly standards have all "added value" to NAHAD. Assisting Brown as co-chairs are: Michael C. Armbruster of Valley Belting & Hose Co., Inc.; H. Lee Helfer of Specialty Hose Corp.; and Gene Mayo of Summers Rubber Co. Participating companies include: Band-It, Idex Inc.; Briggs Co.; Campbell Fittings, Inc.; Civacon; Dana Corp.; Dantec Ltd.; Dayco Eastman; Dayco Products Inc.; Dixon; Ever-Tite Coupling Products; Federal Hose Manufacturing, Inc.; Flexible Components; Gates Rubber Co.; Goodyear - Le Manufacturier Granford Inc.; Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; HBD Industries; Hose Master, Inc.; Ideal; ITR Hydraulics Corp.; Oetiker, Inc.; Page International, Inc.; Punch-Lok Inc.; Senior Flexonics, Inc.; Teleflex Fluid Systems, Inc.; Titeflex; U-Nova Industries; and Willcox Engineered Products, Inc.
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