Jeff Engelbrecht, training and development manager at Robinson Inc., joins co-hosts Ann Franz of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance and Kate Bruns of Insight on Manufacturing on this week’s new episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast.
Engelbrecht talks with Bruns and Franz about transitioning from a long career as a Green Bay police officer and bringing his extensive training and development experience to Robinson.
Robinson, which had been grappling with developing effective internal training programs to keep with up with the company’s rapid growth, reached out to Engelbrecht. Engelbrecht joined the company in 2024 with the goal of creating the Robinson Training Academy.
Robinson started by interviewing 60 to 70 new employees as well as a wide range of supervisors, managers and leaders. “Where I heard some commonality was a lack of structure and training, and with the explosion in growth, it’s hard to keep up any training if you don’t have some organization and structure to it.”
Engelbrecht leads a team of five instructors (two in assembly, two in welding, and one in electrical). “Not only do they know the job backwards and forwards at Robinson… they just have a genuine way about them,” he says.
The goal is teaching and developing new workers so that they’re comfortable on the job and that they know that Robinson “would like to have you here for a career, not just a job,” Engelbrecht says.
Since developing training modules and implementing the academy, the company has already seen a decrease in turnover.
Read more about the Robinson Training Academy in the July issue of Insight on Manufacturing.
Listen to the full episode on Spreaker or anywhere you listen to podcasts. NEW Manufacturing Insights is produced by Woodward Community Media; new episodes are released on Thursdays.
Contact your Insight account manager for sponsorship information, or contact Kate Bruns at kbruns@insightonbusiness.com to suggest topics and guests.
