professional development

The Nypro Institute Partners with Moldflow to Leverage On-Going Learning

By Angelo Sabatalo, Nypro Corporate Director of Training and Organizational Development

Moldflow and Nypro are excellent examples of organizations that value continuing education and quality training. Both companies have always offered traditional training methodologies; however, with the advent of the Internet and in response to challenges that engineers and designers are overcoming such as reduced travel budgets, faster design cycles and hectic schedules, online training is becoming the preferred training method. Both Moldflow and Nypro have established strategic, Web-based training and have partnered to leverage the processes. Both Moldflow’s plasticszone.com and Nypro’s nyproonline.com Web sites are excellent sources for technology, consulting services and training, as well as the Nypro Institute’s corporate training courses. Moldflow has incorporated Nypro’s curriculum into its plasticszone.com strategy.

As director of the Nypro Institute, my responsibilities are much like those of the dean of a college or university. I am responsible for identifying and assessing the training and education needs of the CAE community for personal development as well as to satisfy strategic objectives of a company. In the case of Moldflow, where there are synergies between companies or between a university and a corporation, I act as the individual who links those synergies to satisfy strategically the objectives of our company or Moldflow or the university.

As a corporate university, we also function as a satellite campus for many of the colleges and universities. So, I serve a dual role. As the corporate director of training and organizational development, I provide programs and strategies that specifically deal with Nypro, and as the director of the Nypro Institute and Nypro Online, I serve the community at large. For instance, with the online program, 60 percent of the students enrolled are from outside Nypro. We train our competitors as well.

Our philosophy has always been that all boats rise on a high tide, particularly so in our industry. A well-trained work force, even with competitors, will enhance the public’s and the industry’s technical competence. People will view plastics in a different light and see the potential and opportunities there. So it’s beneficial for the general public that everyone can do a good job. Nypro Online offers an asynchronous (anytime/anyplace) multimedia environment that provides accelerated learning, consistency of content, online assessment, and access to peer-learners and instructors. Nypro Online is associated with the University of Massachusetts/Lowell, a world-renowned leader in plastics engineering education. The partnership disseminates plastic technology education and training products via the Internet. Our goal is to promote good manufacturing practices and to enhance plastics processing knowledge and skills in the global plastics industry by providing basic and advanced practical courses.

Beyond the online classes, the Nypro Institute has a full program on-site. We run a full gamut of classes including ESOL (English for speakers of other languages), certificate programs that may be either certified through the Nypro Institute itself as a corporate university or in conjunction with colleges and universities such as Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of Massachusetts, Fitchburg State College, Mt. Wachusett Community College, and New Horizons Computer Training Co. We also run associate programs on-site in conjunction with those schools as a satellite campus. We provide opportunities for associate programs in business or in technical programs. We also run bachelor and MBA programs, specialized courses for APICS (American Production Inventory Control Society) and ASQ (American Society in Quality), and project management courses.

We function in many modes — as the strategic arm of Nypro, as a satellite campus, and as a corporate university. Our courses are certified by the Workforce Development Fund of the state of Massachusetts, an express grant-funding program. Many of the Nypro Institute’s instructors are Nypro employees. They are all accredited and approved by the colleges and universities with whom we are affiliated.

In January 2003, the Nypro Institute was benchmarked by the University Continuing Education Association at a conference attended by the deans of continuing education and undergraduate programs from some of the major colleges across the US. I participated in a panel discussion called “Views on Corporate-University Partnerships: Emerging Trends, Successes, and Caveats.” We discussed the recent explosion of corporate universities worldwide and the benefits that companies perceive in organizing and providing elements of in-house corporate training. At the event, the Nypro Institute was lauded as unique and innovative.

We clearly link the success of the organization in terms of profitability and sales with the training and educating of our employees. We certainly feel that it’s worthwhile intrinsically in terms of education and that Nypro is a learning organization. We feel that education and training are competitive edges for the future. As a result of that philosophy, we can see the direct result of that education because we link it to the strategy. In fact, we’ve had 17 consecutive years of increased sales and profitability.

All of these particular strategies, and how we value employees and educate them, are closely linked. As we increase the education, training and skills of our employees, the efforts translate directly to increased sales and profitability. We recognize and satisfy what our customers want. And, we develop the education and skills that are necessary to provide those services and/or technical expertise. So there is a close alignment with what we do and what our customers’ expectations are.

In 1994, Nypro Clinton was a Malcolm Baldridge award finalist. Other companies that visit us routinely benchmark Nypro and the Nypro Institute. The 3,000-square-foot facility itself is located in Clinton, Massachusetts and maintains four training rooms, as well as computer and bar coding labs. We are also currently developing another lab for automation and robotics.

For more information about the Nypro Institute, visit www.nyproonline.com. Go to www.plasticszone.com for more information about Moldflow’s online training, technology and consulting services.