What’s New in Workforce Development and Training for Manufacturers — A Conversation with Andrew Knez of Covalent Networks

The bluEPrint by Executive Platforms

At the 2024 edition of the North American Manufacturing Excellence Summit series we sat down with Andrew Knez, the CEO of Covalent Networks, to talk about one of the most important issues facing manufacturers today. A number of industry trends have combined to make the tried, tested, and true ways of training a workforce ineffective in the modern business environment. Today’s workers need to be able to come up to speed much faster than ever before with fewer experienced people available to show them the ropes and impart institutional knowledge than ever before. Fortunately, a new generation of tools and technologies —including ones powered by AI— are coming online to bridge the gap and put information and instructions in the hands of new employees in a way they can understand and act upon. For everyone interested in how today’s and tomorrow’s workforce will learn new skills, capabilities, processes, and best practices, give this episode a listen!

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Andrew Knez
CEO
Covalent Networks

Andrew Knez has several years of work experience in various roles and industries. Andrew is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Covalent Networks, a company that specializes in workforce operations in complex manufacturing environments. Prior to this, Andrew worked as the Chief of Staff at NatureBox from 2013 to 2016. Andrew also served as an Associate at General Catalyst Partners from 2011 to 2013. Additionally, they worked in marketing at FanSnap for a brief period in 2010 and interned at the Boston Scholar Athlete Program in the same year. Andrew began their career as an Analyst at KAYAK in 2009.

Andrew Knez attended Williams College from 2007 to 2011, where they earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) degree in History. Andrew then pursued further education at Harvard Business School from 2016 to 2018, obtaining a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree.
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Covalent Networks Inc.

Covalent’s enterprise SaaS platform enables technical training programs in complex industrial environments. It replaces all paper training and evaluation forms.

In doing so, it auto-generates real-time Workforce Intelligence for frontline leaders, including skill matrices and audit trails. Our clients further operationalize this data for coverage planning and process control. Our shared goal is to increase labor productivity and decrease the cost of poor quality (COPQ). Customers include Fortune 500 jet engine, automotive, and chemical manufacturers.
www.covalentnetworks.com.