January 6, 2025 1 min read
Scaling Success: Standardizing Workforce Training at Plastipak
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How standardized training and replacing siloed systems with a unified learning platform helped Plastipak drive greater consistency, efficiency, and improved audit readiness.
The Challenge
Plastipak faced growing complexity in delivering consistent, role-based training across all sites, particularly for their maintenance teams. To address key skill gaps and improve access and oversight, the team identified the need for structured learning paths tailored to specific roles and a centralized Learning Management System (LMS) to efficiently track, report, and manage employee training. Previously, training efforts relied on manual processes, including Excel spreadsheets and Access databases to retrieve learner records for ISO and other customer audits. This siloed approach resulted in inconsistencies and operational challenges across all locations.
The Choice
Although Plastipak Packaging Inc. was already utilizing OSHA-aligned training from Vector Solutions, they recognized a significant opportunity to unify its broader training strategy. By integrating its custom technical content with Vector’s out-of-the-box learning and training management platform, the organization focused on providing access to a wide range of training topics, including professional development, safety and compliance, and industrial maintenance, while also enhancing workforce audit readiness through standardized and automated processes across all job sites. The combination of consolidating training into a centralized system, leveraging pre-built learning paths, accessing specialized content libraries, utilizing customized branding options, and enabling seamless system integration, made Vector the ideal partner for their evolving training needs.
“We saw [Vector Solutions] as a potential platform for a one-stop shop for all of the potential training that our associates would be using, whether it was safety training and some of our custom technical content that my team develops, to being able to supplement that with the professional library and the industrial maintenance library has bridged the gap and made sure that we have a lot of different training solutions for our associates.”
– Mary Gollan, Global Corporate Learning Director
The Change
The consolidation efforts to Vector Solutions LMS welcomed immediate and long-term enhancements to Plastipak Packaging Inc.’s learning and training programs. Key benefits include:
- Centralized Training: The organization has an integrated view of their employee training needs across all sites, bringing greater visibility and alignment across all locations.
- From Manual to Automated: Mass upload of training data and records result in less time spent by teams in retrieving records during compliance audits.
- Learning as a Culture: Employees appreciate access to specialized technical content that addresses key skill gaps and increases knowledge retention and engagement.
- Standardized Training Paths: Utilizing pre-built learning paths for job roles help employees receive consistent, standard and effective training across all job sites.
- Custom Content Integration: After successfully integrating its own custom training content, Plastipak Packaging Inc. has received positive feedback that reinforced the value of its approach. Building on this momentum, the organization is now expanding its training program to include leadership and soft skills professional development.
“Immediately, people were able to get to the training right away. We had a one-stop shop for our training records. I think previously, we were using Excel or Access databases and going to multiple places to manually run reports for ISO audits or customer audits. So having the ability to mass upload all our data and our records really reduced the amount of time our talent management teams were spending on the plants doing manual records.”
– Mary Gollan, Global Corporate Learning Director
The Impact
Since implementing Vector Solutions’ learning and training management solutions, Plastipak Packaging Inc. has enhanced its already-robust training programs with greater consistency and efficiency. By leveraging Vector LMS, the organization gained a unified view of employee learning progress, automated the tracking and maintenance of learner records, enabled easy retrieval of records, and supported compliance across all job sites.
With Vector’s pre-built learning paths and SME-developed industrial maintenance online courses, Plastipak effectively bridged key skill gaps, enhanced technical competence, and standardized training across similar jobs roles and locations. The positive feedback from maintenance managers and teams highlighted the training and platform value. Additionally, the organization seamlessly integrated its own custom technical training content alongside Vector’s out-of-the-box professional development and safety training resources. This approach met the diverse learning needs of its teams, making the platform a scalable, versatile, and integral tool for continuous workforce readiness.
“We’ve been able to offer a standardized training experience across all our sites. Previously it was very siloed, and the sites all had different training methods or different training paths. So being able to standardize it, we’ve seen a lot of efficiencies in the amount of time people are spending creating training paths or content, we’re able to replicate those best practices across the organization, and see what people across the organization are doing much more easily so that we can either, share it with others or make sure to include it in our standardized training paths. ”
– Mary Gollan, Global Corporate Learning Director
Consolidate your training and reporting on a single platform to gain insights, drive action, and cultivate a proactive learning environment. Request a demo today and learn how we can help you save time, improve compliance, and elevate performance at your organization.
