METALFORM EDU Expanding Training Offerings

METAFORM EDU, the Precision Metalforming Association’s online training regimen, features more than 50 PMA-exclusive courses and nearly 850 total courses, covering topics such as precision measurement, blueprint reading, SPC, CNC, Six Sigma, lean manufacturing and safety. Also available: the newly created METALFORM EDU Press Brake Operation module, and the Die Protection Training module, containing 12 and five courses, respectively. Courses on advanced stamping press operations also are in development and will be introduced by year’s end.

For a closer look at METAFORM EDU and what’s in the pipeline for additional content, MetalForming spoke to Connie King, PMA workforce development director.

Lubrication Courses on Tap

“METALFORM EDU will introduce courses for metal forming lubricants, which should be available in the first quarter of 2024,” King says. “This follows our recently introduced content for press brake and die-protection training. Metal forming lubricants represents the next step offered in our advanced press-shop-operator content.”

Content additions to METALFORM EDU such as metal forming lubricants arise from discussions with metal forming subject-matter experts, as well as from survey responses and repackaging of previously formatted training materials, according to King.
“We constantly survey PMA members as to the types of content that they are looking for,” she says. “A few years ago, we transferred all of our metal forming-specific training content from DVDs to METAFORM EDU’s online format, and most recently we transferred the content related to press brake training. New content added this spring included die protection, and by early next year we will have new content on metal forming lubricants. Then, we plan to roll out more focused course programming for marketing and sales.”

Expanded Soft-Skills Training

Another in-the-works METAFORM EDU offering, Express Train, involves expansion of soft-skills training.
“It will include leadership, strategy, project management, lean and Six Sigma, as well as regulatory and OSHA offerings to allow users to become more proactive rather than reactive—providing information to use when OSHA shows up at your door, but also preventive information so that OSHA won’t necessarily show up at all,” King says.

Training in soft skills and foundational skills proves invaluable as users climb the ladder toward leadership positions, according to King.

“Particularly with soft and foundational skills, we want to incorporate in-person and virtual instruction because these formats work well in allowing people to interact with each other, which is a key leadership skill,” she says. “When trying to become a leader, someone can’t just sit online without any interaction practice. Particularly when advancing employees from floor-level positions to team leads, these people may have become quite skilled at their jobs, but this doesn’t mean that they can manage people. We’ll be able to provide such training through Express Train, as well as through PMA’s current Management Development Academy. These offerings provide great opportunities to learn leadership, and even help as refresher courses for current managers.”