Hi-tech OEM/ODM businesses have long been among the major contributors to Taiwan’s industrial competitiveness. As global supply/demand chains going through a transitional phase, local OEM/ODM businesses are facing tough challenges from their global counterparts. Cathy You, Director of the Training and Development Center of Wistron, pointed out, we need to quickly recreate the core competency of one company in each and everyone of its employee in order to sustain the company’s global competitiveness.
Recreating The Same High Quality Productivity Across the Globe
According to You, hi-tech OEM/ODM businesses rely heavily on development and manufacturing processes. Among the top 10 computer makers in the world, 9 of them have business associations with Wistron. Therefore, the most important tasks for Wistron is to utilize e-Learning to quickly distribute the same knowledge to its 10,000 employees around the world (Taiwan, China, Hungary, Mexico) and to recreate the same high-quality productivity as found in Taiwan in other parts of the world (e.g., Kunshan, China). And this is exactly how the timeless and spaceless e-Learning comes into play.
To put it simply, there were both internal and external factors that prompted Wistron to adopt an e-Learning program. The internal factors were mainly related to the company’s need to transform itself. Formerly a manufacturing unit of Acer, Wistron was spun off due to Acer’s long-term development plans. Wistron then transformed itself into an OEM/ODM business. The new identity pressed Wistron to rapidly adjust its positioning and philosophy by emphasizing innovation, speed, and execution in concepts and focusing on design, manufacturing, and service in implementation. For this reason, to shorten its employee’s learning curve through faster training process and more flexible learning methods has become Wistron’s challenge for the time being.
As for the external factors, You analyzed, the incandescent competition in the hi-tech OEM/ODM market makes clients even more demanding in their selection of OEM/ODM partners. In addition to product specifications, and flexible delivery schedules, they also expect their OEM/ODM partners to have high quality work force. You said, some clients even make visits to their partner’s plants to make sure that their engineers are equipped with the necessary know-how and problem solving skills.
For the aforementioned reasons, Wistron implemented a training management system and an learning management system to improve professional skills of its workforce, quickly prepare its employees for their jobs, and enhance the company’s competitiveness. For Wistron, e-Learning provides not only training courses but a KM mechanism that can combine company policies, operation procedures, professional knowledge and standards of procedure and then rapidly increase the company’s added values, sustaining the company’s competitive edge.
Shaping and Expanding the Training Roadmap
To achieve this goal, Wistron applied e-Learning to two core competencies of OEM/ODM business: manufacturing and R&D capabilities. In terms of manufacturing, Wistron converted SOP (Standards of Procedures) into SOW (SOW, Statement of Work) and promoted SOW through its e-Learning program. In terms of R&D, the company established a training roadmap to quickly pass on previous experience to R&D personnel through the e-Learning program. So far, the e-Learning program has been successful in improving the quality and efficiency of training courses and it has been instrumental in significant cost reduction.
You said, drawing on Wistron’s experience, we know that in order to gain support from top executives in the company, an e-Learning program needs to encompass company needs, development goals, and e-Learning. At the same time, to help the employees form a learning habit, we need to make e-Learning highly correlative with the employee’s daily task and performance evaluation. This can also ensure that the employees are self-motivated and self-disciplined.
You emphasized, in the next 2-5 years, the company hopes to complete a KM mechanism and make e-Learning part of its employees’ daily life. That way, employees performing different functions in the company can all receive proper training, allowing the company and its employees grow together and achieve the ultimate goal of Wistron’s e-Learning program.