Efficient training cuts costs

Expert opinions: training packages

You never stop learning especially at the workplace. There is always another training course to take or qualifications to obtain. New guidelines and technologies come out every day. However, training costs money. To describe how to slash training expenses, two experts took to the podium at the Infraserv Höchst booth: Heinz-Josef Loeher, Industrial Operation QHSE Management at Bayer CropScience GmbH, and Harry Papilion, Training Team Leader at Infraserv Höchst.

"Every company has to train and develop its employees not only with respect to their jobs, but also for their personal development," explained Loeher, who is responsible for Quality, Health, Safety and Environment at Bayer CropScience's Frankfurt site. Legal certainty was also a consideration, he added, in conducting the courses and keeping employees apprised of the latest developments.
"It can be extremely time-consuming to check whether you have taken all the courses required by law," said Loeher. Until recently, Bayer CropScience's Höchst operation performed these checks and maintained the training plans from the start of the year itself. "It is frequently difficult and costly to document training."
Now, industrial-service provider Infraserv Höchst handles these activities for Bayer CropScience. The park operator's experts know what classes individual employees need. They can even develop specific seminar programs to be taught at the customer's site. "We also tell our clients if the laws no longer call for a certain training course, or if the legal requirements have changed," explained Papilion. After conducting a needs analysis, Infraserv set up a master training plan for the 350 employees at Bayer's Höchst site. The service provider documented all the courses completed by each individual worker.
This training package was then tested in early 2005 in one of Bayer CropScience's production facilities. After six months, a training plan was developed in cooperation with the floor supervisors and plant managers.

Positive experience

So how was it? "Since our experience during this pilot project was so positive, we extended the training package to all our production facilities in Industriepark Höchst as of early 2006," reported Loeher. The quality manager could easily imagine continuing the partnership with Infraserv Höchst for a long time to come. "What we are interested in is reaching the goals of this partnership." They include maximizing legal certainty by seamlessly documenting all the programs. Loeher also wanted to reduce the time and effort invested by Bayer CropScience. Since Infraserv Höchst can respond readily to current business conditions, idle periods can be used for training. "We will definitely be reducing training costs and getting an overview of our training and budgetary requirements without investing much time. The documentation is standardized, and we can easily look up all the training plans and certificates of completion for the entire site," added Loeher. Another benefit of the partnership: greater cost transparency. Plus, the workers are more satisfied. "The employees in the pilot project found the courses more interesting because professional instructors were teaching them." That means training courses are no longer seen as a bothersome duty.
Lots of praise for Infraserv Höchst. But the service provider also benefits from the close partnership. "It's now easier for us to plan our classes," said Harry Papilion. "We used to have to cancel training courses because of low enrollment numbers. This doesn't happen any more. That creates cost savings that we can pass on the our customers."