Besides the traditional, hands-on schools Tooling U, a Cleveland-based online training company that specializes in manufacturing, has created a mobile training platform, TU Mobile, that allows users to access the company's training web site from anywhere in the world.

With TU Mobile, Tooling U (www.toolingu.com) intends to increase usability and portability of training.

The company said users will be able to access real-time training information even if they are not near a computer.

“This feature is especially important as managers are out of the office more and more,” said Chad Schron, vice president of Tooling U.

“A successful training program requires constant monitoring and mentoring. Tooling U customers no longer need to put training on hold while out of the office,” he added.

Tooling U started in a manufacturing company as its in-house training program that was used to train machinists and to develop manufacturing systems.

In 2002, the company recognized the necessity for this type of program industry wide and spun Tooling U off as a separate entity. The school has lesson program writers who research a manufacturing subject, then join with an expert in the field such as welders or journeyman CNC operators, who help the lesson writers to write form content.

Currently, Tooling U offers more than 400 online classes in 50 categories, including blueprint reading, and a wide range of CNC machining classes and other manufacturing training programs such as welding classes that include SMAW application and arc welding symbols and codes. There are also classes in OSHA regulations with respect to safety on the job.

Schools and technical colleges have tapped into Tooling U's online programs as an adjunct to their offerings.

Dick Wold, an instructor and chair of the Manufacturing Engineering Department at Saint Paul College in St. Paul, Minn., a two-year community technical college, said his school has been using Tooling U's online courses for about three years.

“We use the lessons to back-up the hands-on instruction. We have the students take the Tooling U instructions prior to coming to the lab. They're able to do these courses on their own time, at home or work or school. What used to be the lecture format of the welding and machining courses, they now get online,” he said.

Tooling U's online programs are designed to complement workforce development programs, and to be used with on-the-job training programs to help those programs go faster and to help apprentices learn more quickly.

Tony Marchman, plant manager for SC Metals LLC (www.scmetalproducts.com), said his company is committed to training, and to prove it, it spends 4 percent of its payroll on training.

“We've won awards for excellence in training. The owners have always been committed to training since they started the company. To get a good training pathway, we look for resources such as Tooling U to give us consistent training materials,” he said.

SC Metals is a fabricator and contract manufacturer that provides metal stampings and assemblies for the automotive, lawn and garden, and recreational vehicle industries.

Marchman said Tooling U allows the company's welding employees to get a good cross-section education they call the “paper-skills pathway.”

“Getting the principles and basic knowledge into their heads before they get their hands-on training on the plant floor is the best way to train, and Tooling U is a good program to provide that,” Marchman added.

Some of the classes that SC Metals' welding employees take include quality control and systems, welding principles, electrode selection, mechanical properties of materials, and blue print interpretation for weld characteristics, among others.

“Tooling U helps us build a good base so when they get on the floor they're not overwhelmed, and it gives them good communications skills,” Marchman explained.

SC Metals has used Tooling U's program for the past three years. Five employees in the welding department have taken the Tooling U pathway.

“While all of our processes are automated with robotics, the welders have to learn all the principles of the welding process and robotics in order to do their jobs. We feel that training is our only lifeline to surviving this economic situation,” Marchman said.

Tooling U is one of several on-line training sites available. For welding, on-line training includes the American Welding Society's Welding Academy at www.weldacademy.com, and the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology at www.welding.org. A list of welding schools can be found at http://directory.weldingmag.com/school/.