How Top Manufacturing Companies Build Winning Enterprise Learning Programs

As enterprise manufacturing companies adopt automation, digital transformation, and advanced production techniques, they face increasing pressure to equip employees with the right knowledge and skills. But creating an effective Learning & Development (L&D) program at scale is hard. And most large manufacturing companies encounter the same or similar problems. 

From balancing training with production demands, to ensuring engagement across a diverse workforce, to upskilling teams as technology evolves, enterprise manufacturers must navigate a complex landscape to build a successful L&D strategy.

This article briefly introduces six key challenges manufacturing companies face when designing their L&D programs. Then, we’ll see the real-world examples of three enterprise manufacturers that have successfully implemented training initiatives to drive workforce development and operational excellence.

Building an effective L&D strategy is certainly a challenge. But it’s far from impossible. Keep reading to see how you can do it. 

6 key L&D challenges for enterprise manufacturing companies

Every large manufacturing company has its own history, culture, and quirks. But most encounter similar hurdles to keep employees safe, compliant, and high performing. 

1. Evolving technical skills requirements

On top of the classic training needs most businesses have—onboarding, compliance, leadership and management—manufacturing companies have a large amount of highly technical processes and information required. These include proprietary skills that cover precise techniques and factory workflows. 

Team members need careful training to ensure they not only know their field, but these custom manufacturing processes that make your products special. And as technology and technical training change over time, you need smooth systems to keep everyone up to date. 

2. Empowering subject-matter experts (SMEs)

While external trainers and content can be useful, employees learn best from peers who’ve been there, done that. There’s a level of trust and influence that comes with years on the job.

Your challenge as a learning expert is to enable SMEs to share their expertise within the organization without creating huge amounts of work for everyone involved. This is not only cheaper than working with external consultants, it’s more effective because it’s hyper relevant to your business. And employees are more receptive when they know course creators actually know what they’re talking about. 

3. Retaining institutional knowledge 

To further emphasize the previous point, your best and most experienced employees possess knowledge unique to your organization. When these people leave or retire, you risk losing that expertise. 

The best manufacturing L&D programs capture, document, and repurpose these insights so you have them forever. Institutional knowledge should be viewed and managed as the tangible asset it is. Just as you wouldn’t let raw materials or office furniture go unaccounted for, you shouldn’t neglect your company’s valuable internal know-how built up over decades. 

4. Updated safety & compliance training

Manufacturers need to maintain strict health and safety protocols across work sites, including in other countries with different languages. And as manufacturing technology and techniques evolve, staying compliant with industry regulations requires regular training sessions.

This is non-negotiable, of course—it’s key to avoiding accidents, and part of the cost of doing business. So it’s in your best interest to deliver training efficiently, at scale, and at the lowest possible expense. 

5. Generational transformation

The working world is undergoing significant change. In just the past decade, many business systems have gone from largely analog to fully digital, from physical to virtual, from in-person to online. Although many manufacturing processes remain largely physical—core processes like modelling and product design are now often done entirely on computers, and many companies have automated large parts of the factory floor.

Companies must ensure that employees are brought along on this transformation. They need regular upskilling and reskilling, or they run the risk of exposing serious skills gaps. This isn’t something you can hire your way out of either—manufacturing talent is scarce, and recruitment is always expensive. 

6. Shift work and competing timetables

Much of manufacturing takes place in person, in factories, and on assembly lines. People work different shifts and schedules, and don’t always have the luxury of completing training when it suits them.

For L&D leaders, the challenge is to design effective training that can be delivered in person or virtually, and followed by staff no matter their timetable. While much can be done in a classroom setting or via hands-on practice, you need alternative delivery methods to suit a wide array of schedules.

There are, of course, other common issues that make L&D in a manufacturing environment different and often difficult. But with the right strategy and tools, all of these can be overcome. 

Let’s look now at three companies that figured out smart ways to execute great L&D at scale. Just as critically, they all achieved this with minimal resources and modest time investment. 

Three examples of successful training at enterprise manufacturing companies

The challenges described above are common to most large-scale manufacturing companies. And organizations that can overcome them have a distinct competitive advantage. 

To provide inspiration and ideas, here are three major manufacturing businesses that have built successful enterprise learning programs. 

Michelin: User-generated content at remarkable scale

With more than 130,000 employees worldwide, Michelin is a bona fide global corporation. It’s a top 30 French company in terms of market cap, and a globally known and respected brand. 

Michelin has run employee training programs for decades. In 2016, it made a concerted effort to digitize and modernize these programs. In particular, it needed an efficient, scalable way to:

• Keep employees informed about the latest advancements in technology and industry standards.
• Deliver training courses tailored to specific roles.
• Help employees develop in their careers.

Spoiler alert: Michelin consistently achieves these goals. But not with generic content libraries or one-size-fits-all courses. 

Michelin’s SME-centric approach

Michelin knows how valuable its in-house experts are. Every team member brings valuable expertise to their field, and Michelin aims to make this knowledge accessible to as many colleagues as possible.

Michelin's Talent Factory includes roughly 100 team members fully dedicated to career support and skill-building for Michelin employees. This entity actively monitors workforce capabilities by offering over 26,000 tailored training programs. 

The Talent Factory can only achieve learning at this scale thanks to more than 500 internal learning champions—subject-matter experts who co-create courses and ensure that the whole company can continue learning from one another. 

Michelin’s keys to success comes from three core principles:

1. Break down barriers to content creation. Michelin’s L&D experts ensure that SMEs can create new course content in under four hours. And this encourages team members to self-select as SMEs—when it’s this easy, many more are willing to chip in.
2. Proactively recruit internal champions. The L&D team also identifies power users of its LMS platform, and nominates them to share their expertise.
3. Nurture the community. Michelin has more than 100 internal champions. It rewards their help with company-wide recognition, proudly shares their contributions, and ensures that each contributor feels valued throughout the process. 

Training materials that align closely with learners’ immediate needs tend to drive strong engagement. As employees complete courses, they provide feedback and insights that help refine and improve the content.

This in turn reduces the administrative workload for the L&D team. Michelin operates with just two platform managers overseeing the learning management system (LMS) for a workforce of over 130,000. 

Key results

• 22,000+ active learners were engaging as of 2023. This figure has doubled every year thanks to their network of internal champions. 
• 82,000 training hours were completed in 2023 alone.
• 50+ modules are translated into 14 languages.
• An 86% course completion rate.

Learn more about Michelin’s community of learning champions

Safran: Guarding institutional knowledge through generational transformation

French technology group Safran is a leader in global aviation, defense, and space. With nearly 90,000 employees in 27 countries, it needs to efficiently train staff, share knowledge, and co-create ideas at scale. 

The organization has two core challenges: 

• Keeping teams on top of rapid changes in the air transport sector, particularly in response to the climate crisis and energy demands.
• Managing a workforce in transition, as seasoned employees leave and a new generation joins the company.

Safran must ensure that essential institutional knowledge is preserved and transferred to new employees, while also upskilling all teams to meet new requirements.

Inside Safran University

To achieve these ambitious goals, Safran created Safran University. Just 13 HR administrators are able to empower 300 active creators to craft courses and share knowledge. In 2022 alone, this led to more than 400,000 hours of training.

Safran University gives employees opportunities to grow in person (at their dedicated campus in France), online, and through blended learning programs. The e-learning platform lets employees participate in ongoing training, earn badges as they progress, and obtain certifications. This system not only facilitates internal knowledge-sharing but also enhances employees’ career prospects.

The Learning and Development (L&D) team uses tools within 360Learning that enable proactivity and agility, and to continually improve training validation processes. This means Safran’s transformation challenges can be identified and addressed as early as possible, and learners and their managers are at the very heart of the training process.

The outcome is what Safran calls its "global" learning strategy—employees receive tailored training at the right time and in the right place. And crucially, the ideas and insights delivered come from those seasoned employees who innately know what matters most. 

Key results

• 445,000 hours of training, with a 50/50 digital/classroom mix.
• 70% of modules are created in house.
• Nearly 1,500 sessions created by 300 industry experts.
• 700+ authors have contributed.
• Training paths deployed in over 8 languages.

Learn more about Safran University

Ishida: Centralized compliance training at scale

Japanese company Ishida manufactures weighing and packaging equipment for the global consumables market, with more than 3500 employees across the world. Its first overseas entity, Ishida Europe has more than 700 employees across the U.K. and the E.U. 

The diverse workforce includes frontline assembly teams, field service engineers, and sales staff. Ensuring compliance and high safety standards across languages and locations—in a highly regulated environment—is no small task. It falls on Ishida’s seven-member Learning & Development team to do just that.

The most pressing issues for Ishida’s L&D department include:

• Maintaining clear training records to remain compliant and ready for audit.
• Retraining and upskilling team members to meet new standards.

From manual processes to automated compliance

Previously, Ishida’s L&D and Health & Safety teams spent countless hours each week managing spreadsheets, chasing down certificate renewals, and confirming training attendance across departments. In a highly-regulated industry, Ishida needs accurate training records to ensure compliance and readiness for audits. These include everything from crane operation to data protection regulations. But teams were constantly struggling to keep up.

As the company expanded globally, this system became unsustainable. Frontline employees required extensive hands-on instruction, while sales teams needed blended learning programs that could last months and include more than 50 individual training modules.

Crucially, some employees do 90% of their learning on the job but still require digital documentation of their progress.

By implementing automated tracking, Ishida consolidated all mandatory training into a single, user-friendly platform. Now, monitoring certification expirations and tracking course completions is effortless for both the L&D and Health & Safety teams.

• A real-time reporting dashboard provides instant visibility into upcoming training needs, available sessions, and remaining seat capacity.
• Attendance records are automatically generated for both virtual and in-person sessions. 
• Administrators can upload certificates and update records in just a few clicks—retrieving past records is just as simple.

This centralization enables more proactive training, and higher confidence during internal reviews and external compliance audits.

Key results

• 52% less time spent on L&D admin.
• 30% higher employee compliance rates. 
• 40 hours saved per month on L&D reporting.
• Greater buy-in from managers and learners.
• Better staff retention, especially in the sales team.

Learn more about Ishida's automation transformation

Build a learning culture across countries & continents

Constructing an effective Learning & Development (L&D) program in enterprise manufacturing is no small feat. Large companies must overcome hurdles such as workforce diversity, operational constraints, and the rapid evolution of technology while ensuring training remains engaging and impactful. 

But as we saw in the examples of Michelin, Safran, and Ishida, a well-designed L&D strategy can drive workforce upskilling, improve operational efficiency, and support long-term business success.

By embracing innovative training methods, leveraging digital tools, and aligning learning with business objectives, manufacturers can develop resilient, future-ready teams. 

As the industry continues to evolve, those who invest in continuous learning will not only stay competitive but also foster a culture of growth and excellence.