February 21, 2022
CMMS Field Training
Harken back to the days of yore when you were a spunky youth learning to ride a bicycle. Where did you and a parent go to practice? The driveway, sidewalk, or street. Why? Well, first because of the difficulty of bicycling in the living room. Second, the three locations mentioned above was where you'd be riding.
Jump ahead to school and joining a sports team. Where did you practice and train? On the field or court where the games are played.
These two examples are obvious, and you might be wondering my point. Take this a step further. In one sense, most new employment is on-the-job training. Learning duties, rules, regulations, schedules, etc., even if you're experienced in that specific industry. A good example is truck driving. A person earns a CDL but will need to learn the operation of the company he hires onto. A trainer will ride along to 'show him the ropes' if I may be permitted to use a cliché. (and sometimes ropes are what are used for the load), and provide tips to aid in the driver's skills. (Bob, don't go through the tollbooth. Go between the booths.) Like before, the driver is training on-site. In this case, the 'site' is the road.
There are advantages of on-site training, especially when trainers from an outside company come in to show employees how a newly purchased product works. A brief discussion on the benefits can be found at Best. While this article looks at safety training, the points are valid with other types of training.
I won't rehash all ten points in the above article but would like to combine and expand on two as well as discuss one more listed, as well as a fourth that is not mentioned. I'll relate this to a CMMS Field Trainer and Mapcon Technologies.
A previous post, Training Day, has listed three training options from Mapcon. In-house, online, and onsite. It's this third on which I like to focus.
Articles other than Best mention a cost benefit. If a facility has ten workers using a CMMS, think of the issues of scheduling time away from work and the expense of flying/driving to another city for training. Mapcon certainly welcomes guests and offers training seminars each quarter. However, many companies find it cost effective for a trainer to teach on-site.
Another advantage is one of convenience. CMMS field trainers arrive and conduct seminars when the workers are on shift. Not everyone works the usual eight-hour, first shift time slot. Training can be more accommodating.
An enormous benefit to onsite training is for users to learn in the environment where the CMMS is going to be used. (Remember where you rode your bike.) Displaying the menus and features upon a screen is a great leaning method, but to be in the facility, showing users actual application of those features makes the experience that much more constructive. Inputting data from a live working operation helps familiarize the user with the system that much faster. Go back to the truck driver. What's better: a simulator showing the route or physically traveling across the country?
CMMS users will be able to make inquiries about specific information fields to see if they would be useful to the work being done.
An additional benefit which ties in to the previous is that the training can be tailored to the needs of the specific operation. Using the sports training example from earlier, the practice sessions could be geared toward trouble areas on the team, fortifying weaknesses. Maybe there are strategies to help compete against an upcoming opponent.
Similarly, a CMMS trainer arrives with a basic plan, but is asked to completely change the curriculum because a facility needs something which recent circumstances made important. Being onsite, the trainer can more easily personalize the instruction to meet those needs.
Cost, 'real world' use, and adaptability. These are the advantages and results of onsite training. With Mapcon's field trainers, a company can rest assured these benefits will be fulfilled.
To discover what Mapcon trainers can do for your business, call 800-223-4791.