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This informative blog allows plastics professionals to discuss plastics training and technology. Brought to you by Routsis Training: the plastic industry's premiere training provider.

Plastics Business Magazine: “Future Proofing” Your Production Workforce

In the latest issue of Plastics Business Magazine, Routsis Training’s Vice President Daniel Stephens discusses the importance of “productive uptime” and how plastics processing facilities and toolmakers can maximize this crucial variable.

In the article, Mr. Stephens explains that maintaining a confident, skilled, and knowledgeable production team — from management on down — is the key to handling the (often unpredictable) changes and challenges all plastics manufacturers will inevitably face.

“Every company that has survived for more than a few years has endured change. Many plastics processors started out decades ago doing something completely different than their current core competence. The key to not only survive but thrive is a company’s ability to handle change and preserve a state of profitability.”

Daniel Stephens, Vice President of Routsis Training

Mr. Stephens continues with a discussion of how to effectively use hands-on mentoring, benchmarking, and other tools to develop a highly-skilled workforce that’s able to adapt — not only to cope with impending change, but to take advantage of the opportunities such challenges present.

Click here for the complete article.

iOS and Android App Updates Available

New versions of our Scientific Molding Guide and LMSBridge™ apps are available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. These updates offer improved stability and support the latest mobile operating systems.

While many users have automatic app updates enabled on their Apple or Android devices, other may need to manual update these apps. We strongly recommend upgrading to the latest versions. Both apps are available free of charge for all users.

Our free Scientific Molding Guide app is available to the general public and puts critical processing information at your fingertips. Click here for more information.

LMSBridge™ was developed exclusively for Routsis Training’s customers — to enhance their learning experience on mobile devices and tablets. In order to use this app, you must have an active account and login credentials. Please contact us for more information.

Scientific Molding Skills Portals deliver affordable hands-on skills training

A Scientific Molding Skills Portal from Routsis Training combines foundational eLearning with critical skills-development labs. This in-house training system teaches your production personnel how to develop, document, optimize, and evaluate a robust Scientific Molding process. These portals deliver the same advanced processing training once reserved for expensive seminars and on-site training sessions.

“The great thing about these Skills Portals is that they allow technical employees develop real, practical molding skills that translate directly into increased productivity and profitability.”

Daniel Stephens, Vice-President of Routsis Training

32 courses on 1 powerful portal — available in 6 languages

Each Skills Portal comes pre-configured with 6 Scientific Molding 101 courses, 13 Intermediate SkillSet™ Labs, and 13 Advanced SkillSet™ Labs. Each online course and all related hands-on training materials are available in 6 different languages: English, Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Bahasa Malaysia, and Mandarin Chinese.

Employees are assigned to 1 of 3 learning tracks: Fundamental, Intermediate, and Advanced. All participants begin with the basics. Those assigned to the higher learning tracks continue on, performing our hands-on labs on your facility’s production equipment.

  • Fundamental Courses
    Our “101” courses establish a consistent knowledgebase while emphasizing safety — using the production terminology and concepts that every employee should learn.
  • Intermediate SkillSet™ Labs
    These labs provide skills-development instruction & worksheets for documenting and developing of a robust Scientific Molding process — from injection & packing to tonnage & recovery.
  • Advanced SkillSet™ Labs
    Your top processors learn how to test important aspects of the process; such as viscosity, deflection, and imbalance — as well as how to optimize cooling, screw recovery, and part removal. These skills can be applied immediately to improve existing processes at your facility.

For more information about Scientific Molding Skills Portals, please contact Routsis Training or visit the Skills Portals landing page.

Train & Benchmark Employees with Routsis Professional Certification

In early 2022, Routsis Training launched a unique, reliable, and cost-effective tool for workforce training and benchmarking — based on their popular Professional Certification Programs for plastics processing.

These Professional Certification Training Portals — or “Cert Portals,” as they’re commonly called — combine over 25 hours of powerful online training with a certification exam that evaluates the candidate’s understanding of important concepts that directly relate to their jobs.

“It’s an extremely cost-effective way to train your entire workforce. And these portals can be set-up very quickly, which allows companies to start seeing benefits almost immediately.”

Daniel Stephens, Vice President of Routsis Training

“The Cert Portals are becoming the go-to solution for on-boarding and employee development: particularly for small to mid-sized molders, extruders, and design firms,” stated Daniel Stephens, Vice President of Routsis Training. “It’s an extremely cost-effective way to train your entire workforce. And these portals can be set-up very quickly, which allows companies to start seeing benefits almost immediately,” Mr. Stephens said.

Routsis offers two different levels of Professional Certification for Injection Molding. There are also certification programs for Injection Mold & Plastic Part Design, Single-Screw and Twin-Screw Extrusion, and Extrusion Blow Molding. “If your plant runs multiple processes, we can easily create a custom solution that meets your facility’s particular needs,” said Mr. Stephens.

By default, each Cert Portal is configured to run two separate training tracks, geared toward different job positions and skill requirements:

  • Fundamental Courses
    This “101” course grouping benefits anyone in the facility by establishing a consistent knowledgebase, while emphasizing all aspects of safety.
  • Professional Certification
    These courses cover process parameters, lean manufacturing, troubleshooting, and other topics; benefitting Technicians, Supervisors, Managers, and Engineers.

Routsis Training will help you determine the number of active seats your plant needs. Once an employee has completed their assigned training, employers can use that seat to train another employee, according to Stephen Murphy, President of Routsis Training.

“Certification sharpens a company’s competitive edge and shows their customers that they’re committed to continuous quality improvement,” Mr. Murphy added.

FREE Scientific Molding App for iOS & Android

Our Scientific Molding Pocket Guide app for iOS and Android devices is now available free of charge.

Created by the scientific injection molding experts at Routsis Training, the Scientific Molding Pocket Guide is packed with practical information built on Routsis’s 30+ years of experience in plastics training and consulting.

The plastics processing reference guide for all injection molders

This convenient reference puts critical processing information at your fingertips. Compare the properties of different plastic materials & additives, learn the correct way to establish a Scientific Injection Molding process, troubleshoot injection molded part defects, quickly convert between Metric and Imperial Units… all in one app, on your smartphone or tablet.

Click here for more information.