Plymouth Tube Company

The Challenge
Plymouth Tube Company's Eupora, MS, plant was looking for a training solution that provided high quality, consistent training content that allowed the plant to easily train workers on multiple shifts.

The Solution
Plymouth Eupora uses dss⁺ interactive online learning courses to train workers on required OSHA topics, as well as human resources-related subjects.

Resolution
Karen Walker, Human Resources Manager at Plymouth Eupora, explains that quality and consistency were their primary focuses when determining how to best train their workers. Convenience was another aspect to consider, since the plant has multiple shift schedules. Walker and her co-workers found that dss⁺ online learning courses met these important needs.

Extensive Course Catalogue
Walker states that Plymouth Eupora has a very strong safety culture. Along with other efforts, they start every meeting with safety and have developed a group of volunteer safety coaches among their production staff who take pride in being role models. So, when it comes to training their workers, only the best, most effective safety training products meet Plymouth Eupora's standards.

Walker states dss⁺ is "known as one of the best training companies around" and that Plymouth Eupora has a "high level of assurance that content is up-to-date and meets OSHA" compliance standards. Walker also values the fact that content is consistent from one employee to the next and that she can track and record the courses workers take and how well they do. Another benefit of dss⁺ e-learning courses is that they keep workers alert and engaged in the learning process due to the interactivity and testing in the courses.

Manufacturing-specific Training Products
Walker says Plymouth Eupora has a hard time finding manufacturing training materials. She emphasizes it was one of the things that "drove them to dss⁺."

Ease of Training
Before implementing dss⁺ eLearning Suite™ courses, Plymouth Eupora conducted department- and occasionally plant-wide training meetings. Make-up trainings would have to be scheduled for workers who missed the original meeting. dss⁺ online learning courses made training much more convenient and required much less interruption of production time. Plymouth Eupora created a central computer lab where the majority of employees who don't have desks can easily access training. Workers can be sent individually, or if a production line is planned to go down, that group of employees can be conveniently scheduled for training during the downtime.

Customizable Content
The customization feature was a bonus for Plymouth Eupora. They were able to incorporate plant-specific training on cranes, including their own video, into a dss⁺ eLearning Suite™ course. They have also occasionally taken out segments in dss⁺ courses that didn't apply to their facility.

The Result
Years ago, when Walker and her co-workers made the original case to use dss⁺ online learning courses, they determined that cost savings just from less production downtime justified the expenditure. However, what they really looked forward to was the quality, consistency and convenience of the courses—the same benefits that keep Plymouth Eupora using dss⁺ eLearning suite™ courses today.

Plymouth Tube Company is a global specialty manufacturer of carbon alloy, nickel alloy, and stainless precision steel tubing. The company is comprised of eight manufacturing plants and nine business units. The Mississippi location is a specialized hydraulic steel tubing manufacturer. Plymouth Tube is a family-owned company with fourth generation leadership.