By Tapping Pathlore, E-Training Flows at Advanced Drainage Systems

“Pathlore’s software suite gives us the infrastructure to evaluate employee retention, develop more comprehensive training programs for vehicle operation, safety and maintenance and share best practices across our vast network of manufacturing plants,” said James Baich, vice president of manufacturing for ADS. “When we change a production line and break down our equipment to manufacture varying sizes of pipes, we want to make sure that the best process is repeated consistently across our network.”

“If people aren’t trained to perform manufacturing processes in the same way, you can lose hours of productivity across the organization, which can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars,” added Eric Reo, director of information technology at ADS. “In terms of providing us with the tools to deliver a centralized, manageable approach to employee development, there’s no better product on the market than Pathlore’s.”

Earlier this year, ADS rolled out a three-year strategy for employee education and development. ADS executives say the Pathlore software suite will play a pivotal role in improving employee retention, which is one of the goals of the strategic plan. For instance, there are a number of career paths available to employees within the organization’s manufacturing group. But the lack of a standardized system for sharing career development opportunities has, in some instances, stymied training. According to Eric Reo, it’s critical to outline and highlight these tracks for employees, so they can take advantage of what ADS offers. By setting up Pathlore-linked kiosks in each plant, ADS manufacturing employees will soon be able to not only take training but also see what they need to accomplish to advance their careers.

Before implementing the Pathlore solution, ADS had neither online education nor methods for analyzing the effectiveness of training. Now, ADS will rely on the Pathlore solution to measure employee skill levels against a predetermined benchmark and deliver learning material suited to the needs of the employees. The Pathlore solution will automatically manage the training process, which includes assessing the competency of workers and tracking the results of instruction.

“It’s expensive and sometimes impractical to bring a large workforce together for employee development,” added Peter McStravick, senior research analyst in Learning Services at market-research firm IDC. “So ADS has overcome that challenge by adopting a solution that efficiently delivers high-quality training across the enterprise.”

About ADS
Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc., (ADS), founded in 1966, offers a complete line of pipe and fittings for superior water management. The company produces pipe in 3-inch to 60-inch diameters, in addition to a complete line of fittings and other accessories including Nyloplast drainage structures and AdvanEDGE flat pipe. ADS serves the drainage industry through a global network of 21 manufacturing plants, 30 distribution centers and nearly 4000 independent distributors. To learn more about ADS, log on to www.ads-pipe.com

About Pathlore
Pathlore Software Corporation provides the most widely adopted learning management solution in the world. Over 1,000 organizations and millions of users rely on Pathlore to optimize their business performance. Whether business performance depends on getting sales channels up to speed quickly on new products, increasing quality and customer satisfaction, or reducing costs associated with regulatory compliance, Pathlore learning management solutions ensure that clients achieve the maximum return on their investment in people. Pathlore clients include DaimlerChrysler, Delta Air Lines, Novartis, U.S. Bancorp, government agencies on three continents and more than 100 health care organizations. For more information, go to http://www.pathlore.com.

Pathlore is a registered trademark of Pathlore Software Corporation. All other registered and unregistered trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.