It has been said that to improve maintenance the first step is to change its name; otherwise, it will never receive any respect. Each company has to make its own name and acronym for maintenance, but as a sample, I use Capacity Assurance Technician or CAT for short. Although the idea may seem insignificant, it has made a difference in companies that have tried it.

Beyond just a title change, maintenance workforces are in need of education. This has been evident even more recently in view of educational statistics that show 13% of all U.S. 17-year-olds are illiterate versus only 1% in Japan and Germany. Furthermore, the graduation rate in the United States is only 73%, whereas it is 94% or more in Japan and Germany. These statistics add credibility to the claim that the American workforce needs more training. How effective will these people be when they enter the workforce? What added burden of training will be put on American companies?

In the matter of industrial training, consider how much training companies are funding at the present time. When was the last time that your craft technicians have been exposed to meaningful training? Six months? One year? Two years? Even longer? Most training groups will admit that if you have not updated your craft technicians' skills in the last 18 months, their skills are outdated. Some companies believe they are spending enough on training, but when these claims are examined, only 20% of the training dollars are spent on...