Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Are there prerequisites for the classes?
A: Anyone can enroll in any MPACT® class. However, each class builds on earlier classes, we "hit the ground running", and we cannot hold up a class to wait for an unprepared student. Thus, it would not be wise to send a student to a class he or she was not prepared for.

Q: How can we be sure that a student is prepared for a class?
A: There are three ways to determine this. First, our course descriptions indicate subject matter knowledge required for each course. Second, our instructors will be happy to have a discussion with you as to whether a student is prepared. Finally, at your discretion, we offer readiness testing. Such testing consists of multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. It is not “validated”, but if a student “aces” or flunks a readiness test, it usually is a clear indicator. Nevertheless, it is up to the sending company to decide.

Q: Can you conduct classes at our site?
A: Yes, if… We require minimum class sizes for classes at your site, or at least payment for that number of students. This is normally six students. For Maintenance Management, Maintenance Planning, and Systematic Troubleshooting the minimum is twelve students. In addition, you must pay for instructor travel expense and the transport of necessary equipment, which ranges from virtually none to very substantial.

Q: Why not use a Technical Community College for training?
A: Community colleges are an excellent resource. The MPACT Learning Center uses them for all our welding and machining courses. Many companies hire their graduates. We have an excellent working relationship with many of them, and have had numerous community college representatives visit our training center.

Community colleges do an excellent job of providing low cost training for a large workforce when a new industry moves into an area. Where problems begin to arise is after a plant has been in business for a while, and one or a few employees need training. First, by state policy in North Carolina, a community college cannot conduct a class for fewer than ten people. (Other states have similar rules.) If you need one person trained in, say, DC drives, the community college cannot help unless they have a regular course scheduled for the public. Then, you have to release the employee for several hours per week for ten weeks or so to get the training.

Even if you have ten people who need the same course, and the community college sets up a special course for you, what plant can afford for, say, ten electricians to be gone for a week all at once?

If the course is held at night, when you can let ten people go at once, how well do employees who have worked eight hours learn when they are tired? Some, very well – many, not well at all.

Another problem the community college has is finding an instructor for a night class. Sometimes their best instructors are willing to teach at night. Usually they are not. So the community college recruits, say, a retired electrical engineer who may know the subject matter very well, but is not a great instructor. This is not intended to be a wholesale indictment of either the community colleges or their instructors. But when we discuss this with maintenance supervisors and engineers from other companies, we see many heads nodding in agreement. In contrast, we have two full-time instructors, who have plant experience.

Almost no community colleges have the equipment we have in the quantity we have. When community college representatives visit us, they usually express envy at what they see. We have five or six fully equipped workstations for each class, where they often have but one or two. We never have more than three students per workstation, and usually only two. The community colleges often have to crowd many people per station, and students must wait while others take turns. Our lab classes are usually ten to twelve students; the community colleges usually have much larger classes.

Community college and tech school graduates are sometimes excellent, sometimes not. (Which one of us has never slept through a class or copied homework?) Community college graduates tell us that we cover as much material in one week as tech schools do in a quarter, and that they learn it as well or better with us.

Q: Why not use vendor training?
A: You can often send the employee to a vendor school. Sometimes this costs nothing, sometimes a great deal. However, employees going to vendor schools do not always have the background to understand what is being taught. In such cases, the training goes right over their heads.

Q: What is your cancellation policy?
A: We provide a 100% refund for cancellations made 10 or more working days before the start of a class. There is no refund for cancellations made less than 10 days before the start of a class. It is OK to send a substitute. We reserve the right to cancel a class if there are not enough enrollments.

Q: Can I see MPACT in action before sending students?
A: We invite you to tour our facility and/or audit a class for one day at no charge to get a closer look at our facilities and our approach to maintenance education.

Q: How can maintenance managers motivate their employees to take training seriously?
A: By far the best-proven approach is a pay-for-skills program, with both positive and negative incentives. We have extensive experience developing such programs, and a unique approach to assisting customers: we charge consulting fees, but will refund these fees in the form of a 10% discount on classes paid for until all fees are refunded.

Q: How can maintenance technicians motivate their employers to take training seriously?
A: Any employer who has been frustrated by inefficiencies in solving maintenance problems in his or her facility will benefit from learning about MPACT’s track record for improving maintenance operations. Technicians interested in broadening their understanding of the principles of mechanics, electronics, and effective maintenance should ask to speak with their employers, and explain that by gaining a better understanding of the equipment they work with, their job effectiveness will improve. By browsing our Web site or reading our Course Descriptions in our printed brochure (request a brochure using our contact form), employers may be motivated to consider the benefits of our training.

Q: What does "MPACT" stand for?
A: Maintenance Proficiency Achievement through Craft Training

Q: Do you accept individual students - those who are not being sent and paid for by a company?
A: Yes we do, and we can provide a cost effective package for you. Contact us for more information. contact form