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Guiding Principle
American industry will only be competitive if we all work smarter and we employ individuals with more highly developed skills.
What Are Metalworking Skill Standards?
They are defined common skills and competencies that the metalworking industry has determined a worker needs to perform well on the job. As benchmarks for performance, these standards are continuously updated using industry feedback by employers, workers, and educators in the metalworking industry. There are over 20 specific sets of skill standards designed to fit into four broad industry areas. The four areas are:
- Machine Building, Maintenance, Repair, and Servicing
- Machining
- Metalforming
- Tool, Die and Moldmaking
These four areas are each divided into three levels of expertise:
- Level I - Foundation Skills
- Level II - Intermediate Skills
- Level III - Advanced Skills
Why Do It?
Globally and locally, industry is changing. High-tech skills are increasingly necessary for even the most basic jobs. To keep pace, employers and educators need to explore new training strategies. An evolving effort to ensure a highly skilled and adaptable labor force is succeeding in many parts of the country due to the growing use of industry-defined skill standards.
As today’s marketplace ratchets toward higher quality requirements, skill standards work as:
- A precision tool that keeps the metalworking industry current and competitive.
- An employer’s gauge for measuring performance, both before and after hiring.
- A powerful opportunity for partnerships among industry leaders and trainers, educators and community training programs.
- A dynamic process to keep workers on top of industry expectations, preparing them for every changing and increasing performance demand. In a growing and complicated marketplace, skill standards pave the road to future growth and a better bottom-line.
Bottom-Line Benefits
Everyone in our industry can benefit from using the Metalworking Skill Standards. In fact, rewards for participation only multiply as more employers, educators, and workers join in the system. The following are just a few of the tangible payoffs:
- Production and profitability boosted by employees who are properly matched to their jobs.
- Job search costs reduced by utilizing efficient screening procedures that are accurate, objective, and meaningful.
- Employee relations improved by better retraining, reassignment, and promotion of workers.
- Worker motivation increased by opportunity to expand skills and earn certificates.
- Product quality raised as the result of a highly trained and well-positioned workforce.
- Provides a more flexible and adaptive workforce by allowing employers to know exactly what skills they have and how to deploy them better.
- Assures worker competency in specific jobs.
For more information visit NIMS – National Institute for Metalworking Skills or contact:
Mr. Steve Mandes
Executive Director
NIMS
3251 Old Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA, 22030
Phone: 703-352-4971
Fax: 703-352-4997
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