The ability to share knowledge with speed and efficiency is a quintessential part of succeeding in the manufacturing industry. For most companies, the greatest knowledge transfer comes through training, as it plays a pivotal role in the entrance of a new employee within an organization.
But despite its high importance, manufacturing training is often perceived as a burden by the existing workforce. While new hires are eager to learn and soak up all the knowledge they can, veteran employees are reluctant to put in the many hours required for training and re-training.
Another roadblock comes in the form of creating infrastructure to monitor each operator’s competencies and keep track of the need for additional training. Then, there is the added difficulty of retention.
Training manufacturing workers can be a major challenge, but there are practical ways to make the process easier for all involved. Here are some examples of how to successfully train your workers.
1. Onboard Quickly With Digital Work Instructions
Work instruction software like VKS serves as a continual guide and training tool that is enhanceable via diverse multimedia items. This includes reference images, call-outs, videos, pictograms, and any other indication that makes the work instructions more precise. These help lead operators through each operational detail.
Creating operating instructions that act as both a training and a production work guide is also more straightforward than you might think:
When used for training purposes, guidebooks can be opened in the “preview” mode. This setting allows operators to run through the step-by-step instructions without affecting production data or KPIs.
Authors can flag certain steps as being “Expert” steps. These steps should be the ones that are essential to the task at hand. By enabling the expert mode, users can choose to skip informational steps aimed towards new users and only view the most crucial steps to the production instead.
Real-Life Example: Creating Dual-Purpose Work Instructions
You create a guidebook that is meant to be used as manufacturing training material and production guide. You start by outlining the steps that are essential to the item’s production and tag them all as Expert steps. You enhance these steps by adding the corresponding tool’s instructions in the attachments so they are available on-demand.
You also use pictograms to indicate the safety measures that must be followed on this step. You then add extra video explanations that demonstrate the actions that are to be performed. Since these steps are not tagged as Expert, experienced users are able to skip them easily, while new users can use them as a reference for what needs to be done.
2. Test Knowledge with Automated Quizzes
Skip complicated LMS systems and use digital work instructions as your all-in-one solution, able to quiz your employees on procedures and record the results.
Using forms and rules, authors can create classic quiz-style training guides for safety training and tool manipulation procedures. Data collected from these quizzes will be available as reports, and can indicate which workers have completed training and when.
In the form’s rule section, the author programs the user’s response to trigger specific actions. A correct answer allows the user to move forward and proceed with the training; a false answer pauses the progression until the correct answer is chosen.
When it comes to training, your company’s biggest challenge is that your experienced operators have their own way of doing their job. Subsequently, they also have their own best ways of teaching how to do it.
Quizzes can be used to assess the overall need for additional training. There is also the option for the user to provide helpful feedback that can be used to enhance overall understanding of processes. In this way, you can test and monitor each employee’s knowledge of the process and provide additional training as a result.
Real-Life Example: Chemical Manipulation Training Quiz
Your organization wants to create a quiz-style training on the safety procedures regarding the manipulation of certain chemicals found on the shop floor.
You start by creating a multi-step guidebook that is planned in sections. At the end of each section is a form that presents the operator with a question, and a series of radio buttons representing potential answers.
You then use the form rule engine to trigger different actions according to the user’s response. If the user selects the correct answer, they will be able to proceed to the next section. If the incorrect answer is selected, a pop-up message is programmed to appear, informing the user that their reply was incorrect.
The user is then sent back to the step containing the information needed to answer the question properly. The next time the operator arrives on the step, they should have the correct answer. Once the operator has completed the training, the data associated with the guidebook can be found in the reports.
Real-Life Example: Training Quizzes To Assess Training Needs
When it comes to training, your company’s biggest challenge is that your experienced operators have their own way of doing their jobs and subsequently, their own ways of teaching how to do them.
To counteract this lack of control on the shop floor, you standardize training through quizzes that teach new employees how to build products the same way each time. This way you can test and monitor each employee’s knowledge of the process and provide additional training as a result.
Quiz results also serve as a source of data to assess any larger training need trends across your workforce.
3. Keep Track of Safety Certifications
Using certification groups, you can regroup and manage all the operators who hold specific certifications. This feature also allows you to limit access to the work instructions, ensuring that only members with an active certification can access specialty jobs.
Certification groups are created at the organization level, with each group representing a distinct certification. Each user within these groups is classified according to their current certificates, along with dates of completion and expiration. These dates can be edited at all times by the group manager.
This group can then be used as a requirement to access the work instruction file, effectively restricting access to other inactive members of that group.
Example: Safety Certificates For Chemical Processes
You have a guidebook that requires operators to work with a chemical solvent. For safety reasons, you want everyone working with this product to complete an annual refresher training on how to deal with chemical spills and first-aid.
You create a “Chemical Solvent Training” certification group and add all the operators who are set to be working with the product. You set each qualified operator’s certification to expire after a year. You then create the work instructions and add the Chemical Solvent Training group to the list of authorized groups. This prevents users who are not part of the group from using the guide.
Example: One-Time Certifications
You need work instructions for automotive welding. It is company policy that only operators who have completed their Structural Welding Certification Test can operate the required tools. You then create the group “SWC Certification”.
In this case, the group would include all operators who have completed that certification, but there would be no set expiration date. You then add the SWC Certification group to the list of authorized groups. This prevents users who are not part of the group from using the work instructions.
4. Enable “Training Required” for Variable Experience
In the constant cycle of upgrading equipment and hiring new workers, you end up with a workforce with vastly different levels of experience. Thus, you have to ensure that training is up to date. Until some workers are fully trained, you must restrict access to certified users while also keeping records of supervisor authorization.
The “Training Required” feature is a pop-up alert that signals to operators that a modification has been added to the latest version of the step-by-step work instructions. To proceed, the operator requires a supervisor’s authorization to continue. This authorization confirms that they are qualified to complete the updated version of the operating instructions.
Example: Training Requirement for an Updated Guidebook
Your company is upgrading from using a manual torque wrench to using ToolConnect IoT for assembly, but this tool’s safety feature doesn’t work the same way as the previous one did.
While updating the job instructions, you add a training requirement notification on the step for the torque value. When the operator opens this work order, a message appears that a supervisor needs to first certify that they are properly trained to work with the new tool.
Final Takeaway
No matter which features you choose to use or integrate into your processes, the important part is to choose a sustainable method that organically fits into your organization’s culture.
When your training efficiency increases, your workforce becomes more knowledgeable and comfortable with their tasks. This leads to a decrease in defects and errors, as well as to an increase in efficiency and workplace satisfaction.
