Every manufacturing customer has unique needs when learning how to use specialized pieces of equipment. That’s why Rockwell Automation, headquartered in Milwaukee with a division in Brecksville, created the concept of Tailored Training in 1994 and moved the concept online in 2002.
“Sometimes people don’t need to go to a two-day or a four-day class to learn everything about all of our products,” says Kevin Ives, business manager for Training Services at Rockwell Automation. “But what they need to learn are some key aspects of the products that are specific to what they do inside their facilities.”
His department took a detailed look at its standard training classes and broke them down into 1,600 job tasks.
“What (Tailored Training) allows us to do is very easily go to a customer, and, based upon a product type or a product category they can identify all of the tasks associated with that product relative to training. Then we can work with them to select those that they would specifically like to use as part of a training class,” he says.
The Tailored Training e-source allows Rockwell’s salespeople and its customers to easily select those tasks. Ives says the e-source gives task descriptions, identifies prerequisites, provides an estimated time that allows the customer to tailor the length of the class and generates a proposal for that class.
Customers can attend classes at one of Rockwell’s locations for training or Rockwell instructors can teach onsite classes at the customer’s facility.
Not only does Tailored Training deliver services to Rockwell’s customers but the internal e-source tool allows Rockwell’s sales team to deliver the right type of solution to customers.
“Once we’ve identified the need for a course, and we’ve identified what the subject matter will be, then we build those tasks step by step,” he says. “We identify all of the equipment that would be required to deliver the course, and then it becomes a technical writing and publishing exercise, where we take all of that information and develop an instructor kit. We develop student kits and supporting documentation — what we call troubleshooting guides — that accompany some of the student kits.”
The company also takes electronic versions and uploads the information into its database. As new courses are developed, more tasks are added to this evolving tool.
Ives says his department measures the success of the Tailored Training program based on the results compiled from customer satisfaction surveys on the delivery and content of the class material as well as the knowledge of the instructor. As part of the larger Rockwell organization, other market research and customer-based studies are performed throughout the year.
“We have a customer base that doesn’t have a lot of time, has, in many cases, very unique needs, and needs to have an efficient way to keep their employees trained, because ultimately, what we’re supporting is their ability to manufacture their products,” Ives says. “If they can’t manufacture cars because they don’t have an efficient way to train their employees to keep their equipment up and running, that’s a demand that we have to meet.”
HOW TO REACH: Rockwell Automation, (440) 746-4792 or http://www.ra.rockwell.com
