WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY
New Haven, Conn.
Manifestly, all large employers of labor must train their help to a greater or less degree. It has always been the practice of the Winchester Company to do a great deal of this training, but until the past few years it had all been done in the shops or office where the candidate was to work. For many years it has been the practice to take intelligent boys and young men in the office with the idea of continually promoting them to more responsible positions after they became competent and the positions developed where they might be used. Our graduate apprentices, adjusters and tool setters have been so well trained that they have always been sought for by competitive concerns. Since the war, and especially during the past six or eight months, it has become increasingly necessary to develop the training of employees to the greatest extent. Where formerly help might be obtained who had, at least, some knowledge of machines and shop practice, it is now necessary to take help who have absolutely no knowledge of factory work and teach them to become skilled. In addition, this must be done in the least possible time.
To take care of this condition, we have developed in addition to our regular apprentice course, a training course for administrative and executive positions, an Office School, a Gun Department Adjuster’s Shop, a Cartridge Department Training Shop and Tool Department Training Shop.
The regular apprentice course is designed to give complete training for machinists, gauge makers, tool and fixture makers, etc. The course which ordinarily requires three years to complete has recently been shortened so that some of the boys are graduated in two years. It is the desire to give thorough instruction in the practical work mentioned above. The average enrollment is approximately 90.
The training course for administrative and executive positions is designed to cover briefly such shop and office practice as will give the broadest general knowledge that is likely to be required of those in the more important positions in the administrative organization. This class consists of only about a dozen men who are picked with all possible care.