Tooling University supports Kennametal Inc. for online education: tooling and training companies team up to provide high-quality applications engineer

Tooling University, the leader in online education and training for manufacturing and shop floor trades, has agreed with Kennametal Inc., a leading global supplier of tooling, engineered components and advanced materials, to launch the company's first-ever online technical education program. It will be an extension of Kennametal's Educational Services (KU) and will allow the company to certify its sales force as experts in metal cutting applications engineering. The program is targeted to start in July 2005, according to Jeffrey Holst, Kennametal director of organizational effectiveness.
KU is dedicated to providing expert instruction in Metal Cutting Application Engineering. Courses are offered at the basic and advanced levels, and include classroom, lab, and machine demonstration. Course content is designed to provide the metalworking professional with necessary skills to gain optimum performance in metal cutting operations.
"We're continually looking for ways to optimize productivity for our manufacturer clients," said Holst. "Tooling University's training tools allow us to verify and account for gains in expertise, while our sales force gets to access the knowledge on a 24x7 basis."
Tooling University was founded by Jergens Inc., a sixty-year-old Cleveland-based manufacturing company, to solve manufacturing problems. The Cleveland manufacturer first developed its curriculum and tools of assessment and ongoing measurement in 2000.

Jack Schron, CEO of Jergens Inc. and Tooling University, originally began developing curriculum offerings for his employees in response to global economic pressures for greater shop-floor productivity that continue to compound. Through discussions with vendors, suppliers and customers, he realized they each shared a challenge for continuous skills training and productivity knowledge on the shop floor, field sales and customer support. He also realized that a web-based service could respond to these challenges more effectively and efficiently, regardless of location.

"We're responding to the global need for training that ensures productivity gains while assuring quality and safety," said Schron. "We do it by providing learning sessions that can be scheduled around production requirements or personal needs, offering learning opportunities at the convenience of the trainee and giving management real-time access and measurement of results."

Earn your living online: 10 ways to increase your cash flow by becoming an eBay PowerSeller

More than 430,000 people earn part or all of their living selling products on eBay, but only 90,000 have achieved PowerSeller status by selling at least $1,000 worth of goods each month and maintaining at least a 98% positive feedback rating. PowerSellers have mastered the art of selling online through hard work and savvy buying and selling.

1. Focus on one product category.
Former co-workers Raymond Ramsey and Charles Ross Jr., co-owners of Cash Money Buyers in Chicago, opened a retail store in 2004 to buy and resell a range of products. On eBay, however, they specialize mainly in consumer electronics and power tools. eBay sales now account for 45% of Cash Money Buyers' business.

2. Buy low, sell high.

PowerSellers research prices and routinely monitor demand using free reports at the site. Ramsey and Ross buy their inventory wholesale, then clean, test, and prep the items before listing them. But "the beauty of eBay is that you may get a bidding war," says Ross. "Even if a saw is worth $100, [a buyer] may pay $200."

3. List in volume.

Cash Money Buyers lists about 200 or more items a month, while James and Brenda Daniel; owners of Best Designer Wear in Woodstock, Georgia, list more than 400. They sell new and used women's fashions from Jones New York Ann Taylor, and Gap at more than 50% off retail.