SMT’s "Apprentice Feeder Program"™ (AFP) is a new approach to apprentice training designed to fast-track apprentice training for industry by identifying the trainability and instinct of candidates and incumbents prior to the initiation of classroom training and assessing the effectiveness of the training during the program.

The Apprentice Feeder Program has been structured to maximize the ROI of training resources. The initial and subsequent assessments insure that only the most capable, most committed individuals enter the program and stay in the program. For many reasons, traditional industrial skills apprentice programs suffer from high attrition rates. The AFP is designed to solve this problem and drive industrial productivity using a four step process:

Step 1) Assess the capabilities and trainability of program applicants using SMT’s Non-verbal, Non-Written, Performance-Based methodology and assessment machines. Individuals posting the strongest scores on the assessments move to step two.
Step 2) An initial 40 hours of classroom-based industrial training covering mechanical and electrical fundamental concepts and components.
Step 3) A second round of assessments using a more difficult assessment protocol. This process identifies those individuals that are retaining the training most effectively and are exhibiting the drive required to become a top performer.
Step 4) Those individuals posting acceptable scores on round two assessments advance into an intensive advanced industrial skills training program that includes significant floor-time training in the facility. The advanced training can be up to an additional 250 hours of training.

Our industrial clients count on our solutions to combat the skills shortage and keep their facilities operating at peak performance. The AFP has been built with extensive feedback from industrial operations professionals regarding the specific skill sets they require to achieve their performance objectives.

This program complements natural talent (identified through assessment process) by teaching students mechanical and electrical concepts, machine adjustment fundamentals, troubleshooting and preventive maintenance. The course is structured around our training philosophy "TEACH THROUGH DEMONSTRATION--LEARN THROUGH PRACTICE”, and its success directly reflects this philosophy. Concepts are graphically presented and immediately applied, paralleling actual work situations.

The classroom-course format includes student study guides, work sheets, hands-on training aid kits, many power points, trainee tests, and permanent reference and review materials for students. SMT will provide a qualified instructor and/or instructors' guides for clients to administer the program.

The Apprentice Feeder Program is a hands-on training program, the students train on the same components, tools, and systems they will encounter in industry. This training program is highly effective in a relatively short period of time due to the hands-on aspect of the program and the nature of the curriculum development, the program curriculum is 100% demand driven.