Mechatronics: An On-Boarding Corporate Training Example

1. Mechatronics: An On-Boarding Corporate Training Example Penny Jung Interim Director, Instructional Design and Assessment Center The Community College of Baltimore County Jay Bouis Coordinator of Technical Training The Community College of Baltimore County

2. Background • Introducing Company X as a case study • Hiring and training staff for a new automated system • Changing a from manual order picking and packaging • To a high-speed, automated order retrieval and robotic packaging system, with electronic documentation

3. Agenda • Background • Position and hiring process • Position analysis • Instructional design • Training topics, format, focus • Lessons learned

4. Machine / Process • Multiple Machine Sections • Complex machine pulls inventory to fill, document, and package unique orders • High Level of Automation • Human Machine Interface (HMI), Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), Robotics, Vision System, Database • Electrical and Mechanical Components • Sensors, Wiring, Motors, Valves, Belts, Bearings, More • Tight Tolerances, Calibration, Alignment • Precision must be maintained for proper functioning and during maintenance • Little Room for Downtime • Downtime severely affects the supply chain…and the customer

5. Electro-Mechanical Position • Ongoing Troubleshooting (Production) • Routine Maintenance • Planned Maintenance • Process Improvements • $50-$60K Salary • Communication, Troubleshooting, Critical Thinking, Prioritizing

6. Issues for Hiring and Training • No training staff available at Company • Training plan needed in one month! • Critical thinking skills lacking in current mechanics • Want candidates with existing experience • Want soft skills part of selection process • Want to hire veterans

7. Enter the Community College • Work with Company X • Company Players: • Management • Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) • Students • College Players: • Jay Bouis (Technical Training) • Penny Jung (Instructional Design) • Faculty

8. Rapidly Changing Requirements • It is a startup… • Current employees still learning machine • New machine means rapidly evolving machine and operation changes • Evolving view of engineering, technician, and operator duties

9. Instructional Design and Curriculum Development • 1. Team assesses technical and non-technical skills required • Review existing documentation, interviews, shadowing • 2. ACT- WorkKeys Applied Technology assessment levels determined for hiring • New hires will have a variety of technical skill levels but not necessarily balanced electro-mechanical or packaging specific experience. New hires will require a short sequence of foundational training.

10. Instructional Design and Curriculum Development • 3. Assessment and analysis results in a two-week foundational skills course • Automation Components • Safety, LOTO • Pneumatics • Troubleshooting • Packaging Concepts • Precision Measurement • Lubrication • Team Building and Communication

11. Instructional Design and Curriculum Development • 4. Machine-specific student and instructor training manuals developed with company engineers • Detailed step by step operation and maintenance • 5. Assessment methods determined • Understanding and ability level for typical tasks embedded in manuals

12. Instructional Design and Curriculum Development • 6. CCBC faculty identified to teach • Foundational and machine-specific modules • 7. Faculty worked with company engineers and staff to understand machine / process • Tweak foundational topics and develop understanding to deliver machine-specific on-the-floor and off-the-floor training

13. Instructional Design and Curriculum Development • 8. New employees were hired • Majority from US Navy • 9. New employees begin six week training • Foundational topics, then machine-specific on-the-floor and off-the-floor training • 10. Changes and improvements • Identify changes to improve future training

14. Training Focus Typical training modality in manufacturing : Shadow an experienced worker • Related Issues: • Lack of consistency in training • Bad habits transferred from incumbent to new trainee • Small sections of the machine are taught without relation to the machine as a whole • Problems are easier for supervisors to fix then to take the time to teach trainee • Production goals are focus not the training

15. Training Focus New training focus: Holistic approach to the machine with trainees required to have identified possible solutions to machine problems before they seek help from a supervisor. • Questions they must answer: • What is the problem? • Why did it happen? • What are the solutions? • How long will it take to repair? • What impact will those solutions have on the other parts of the machine and my team?

16. Training Focus • Instructor: Demonstrates the basics of how a machine part operates • Questions that follow: • Show me the pneumatics used to operate this part • What do you think are the possible things that could go wrong with this part? • How would you resolve that problem? • How is this different or like other machines you have worked on?

17. Positive Training Results Students in the first training group recommended design changes to engineering staff on an ongoing machine issue. Engineers make the change and the problem is resolved. Critical Thinking in Action !!!!!

18. Lessons Learned • It is a startup… • Plan on rapid changes to scheduling • Be forceful in getting time with SMEs • Listen to management, engineering and operations

19. Contact Information • Jay Bouis Coordinator of Technical Training jbouis@ccbcmd.edu • Penny Jung Interim Director, Instructional Design and Assessment Center pjung@ccbcmd.edu