PLANTS GRAPPLE WITH GRAYING STAFF

摘要

MANY CHEMICAL makers must defuse a demographic time bomb as veteran engineers and operators approach retirement. Companies are pursuing a variety of strategies to bring replacements up to speed and ensure that a vast wealth of knowledge and experience isn't lost. For example, for over five years now, Air Products, Allentown, Pa., has been developing procedures for knowledge retention and transfer. So much so that today most of the activity at its corporate university centers on this challenge; the company has developed a range of informal learning techniques such as communities of practice, side-by-side working, after-action reviews and story-telling.