July 2004

General Physics (GP) Brings Experience and Quality to Learning BPO

The current wave of interest by organizations in training outsourcing is often traced by experts to 1986, when the General Physics Corporation (GP) was signed by General Motors to become a full service provider of certain employee learning services. It was a natural step for GP, a veteran provider of performance improvement products and services to Fortune 1,000 companies, utilities and government customers.

The field of business process outsourcing (BPO) has grown considerably since then, and so has GP. The 35-year-old operating subsidiary of GP Strategies Corp. ranks as perhaps the most experienced provider of learning outsourcing solutions. It is surely one of the most diverse.

GP is today a global provider of training, e-learning, management consulting and engineering services to organizations in the automotive, steel, power, chemical, energy, life sciences, telecommunications, financial and food & beverage industries, as well as the government sector. In the fast-growing field of training outsourcing, it offers the entire gamut of services that range from providing a single course or other project to fulfilling every facet of a global training operation.

“We can provide everything an organization needs to meet its learning and budgetary goals,” says Daniel Miller, Vice president of the Elkridge, Maryland-based company. A 14-year veteran with the firm, Miller heads GP’s business development activities for training BPO.

Although training is its core business, GP also provides strategies and solutions in engineering and technical services, fulfilling customer needs in more than 60 countries. GP advises that when people, processes, and technology work together, companies can perform smarter, faster, and more competitively.

GP’s training BPO clients include major corporate and government organizations such as the Ford Motor Company and the U.S. Army, its two largest enterprise learning contracts. Among others are Agilent Technologies, Cisco Systems, IBM, Perot Systems, Texas Instruments, United Technologies Corp., CN Rail, Workforce Development (State of Ohio), and a confidential major pharmaceutical customer.

Customers of GP’s training outsourcing practice benefit from the company’s vast experience in creating solutions for some of the world’s most effective companies. This includes a robust quality system specifically created for training program management and program development. All of GP’s training administration and logistics processes are

ISO 9002 registered, meaning that every service, product and process meets the highest industry standards.

Such registered procedures ensure regular measurement and feedback on issues such as instructor performance, course materials, facilities and overall course experience. GP even develops a monthly report that measures product and instructor performance. If either falls below certain satisfaction goals, specific events are triggered.

“In addition, we have account managers assigned to each client in the outsourcing space,” says Miller. They meet together once each quarter to talk about best practices and to share applicable nonproprietary information, he says. “By creating such a network, we are able to build expertise and share our best practices,” says Miller. As an example, the account management network has led to the sharing of practices for the collection and management of performance measurement data. “Some customers relied heavily on manual data collection. Our account managers have identified best practices that have resulted in dramatic reductions in data collection time,” says Cathie Kleve, Vice President of GP Training BPO operations.

Another example of GP’s best practices capabilities is in the area of blended learning, a valuable tool in GP’s design box. For client Ford Motor Company, GP developed a blended learning solution for “Green Belt training,” an integral element of Ford’s Six Sigma process improvement program, to replace a five-day instructor-led program. Individuals happily switched to a Web-based overview followed by three days of instruction at local facilities, a move that reduced participants’ time by 20 percent. The training solution earned Ford and GP a coveted Excellence in Practice citation from the American Society of Training and Development at its May 2004 conference.

GP is also known for its eagerness to accommodate the fluctuating demands of its corporate partners. Just ask Kathryn Collins, Director of Worldwide Training & Organization Effectiveness at Texas Instruments Inc. She signed GP in 2002 to provide professional development courses to employees throughout the company, during a difficult period for the semiconductor industry.

GP’s willingness to support TI during good times and bad is now paying dividends as the client’s training needs increase worldwide. The supplier now supports technical education requirements, and recently established a subsidiary in France to help meet TI’s growing needs for training throughout Europe, says Russ Priest, GP’s Director of Performance Improvement & Training. “We have also been awarded contracts to provide all training at TI’s Attleboro, Mass. facility as well as remote sites throughout the U.S.,” says Priest.

Other clients include United Technologies Corp., where GP brings a suite of services to support UTC’s Educational Assistance and Learning and Development programs. Among them are training administration, logistics, tuition payment, vendor payment, and stock award processing for all UTC businesses. Other services include a custom-developed education management application and centralized call and processing center.

Outsourcing clients also benefit from GP’s extensive experience in learning technologies and its policy of being “technology diverse.” For example, its executives are deeply familiar with the field’s broad array of learning management systems. Based on a client’s needs, it could maintain an alliance to provide hosting services with an LMS provider such as Plateau Systems. “Each LMS provider has certain things they do well, but they may fit organizations slightly differently,” says Miller.

Other key government contracts include a $15.113 million award in February 2004 to continue supporting the Department of Homeland Security’s National Domestic Preparedness Program.

GP’s expertise in the automotive industry led parent company GP Strategies to form a new subsidiary, SkillRight, Inc., one year ago. Skillright focuses on the represented workforce of the auto industry, providing training analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation services to automotive manufacturers, their distribution and service sectors and Tier 1 suppliers of parts and equipment.

Outside of the U.S., GP maintains offices in Montreal, Mexico City, the United Kingdom, France and Malaysia. It initially expanded its presence overseas in response to the demands of its multinational customers, says Miller. “We are also developing new partner alliances and taking other actions to serve the growing demand for training outsourcing throughout Europe and Asia,” he says. Much of its activity is focused on Europe, where companies throughout the European Union view outsourcing as a strategy to improve their competitive status, he insists.

At a recent training conference, Miller was asked about the future of training BPO. “As the practice evolves, there are two areas that I see as critical,” Miller told the group. “First, we can’t forget that our customer is the learner. Companies select outsource providers because they are efficient, and this is important. But it is just as important that the provider have the capability to extend the customer’s learning organization to bring innovation and best learning practices to the solution.” He also said that as globalization continues, it is important that suppliers are able to meet the needs of their customers as they extend their training solutions to other parts of the globe.

“GP views both of these challenges as opportunities for our company,” says Miller. “Training is our business and we bring unique capabilities that some outsourcing firms do not match.”
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