TRUMPF expands training capabilities

Advanced technology helps make employees more productive. In fact, if given good direction, a modern controller, and an equally modern machine, a rookie can be making quality sheet metal parts in no time. But then what? Will that rookie get the most out of the technology? Unless that rookie is a natural, probably not—at least not without good, comprehensive training.

That was an overarching message at a TRUMPF Inc. event held June 12-13 in Farmington, Conn., where customers and industry press gathered to celebrate the machine tool firm’s new, expanded training center.

“We need to focus on the people operating our machines,” said Peter Hoecklin, president and CEO of TRUMPF Inc. “It’s a key part of getting the most out of our technology.”

Over the past 18 months, the company invested about $3 million in the center, knocking down walls, increasing natural light, and adding 18,000 square feet. According to TRUMPF, that’s enough space to train 5,000 students with 630 training events a year. The company also expanded its instructor staff from 11 to 17.

“You will find some of the most technically advanced experts we have here in Farmington at our training center,” said Christine Benz, TRUMPF’s training and development manager.

Classrooms line the perimeter of a 40,000-sq.-ft. facility that houses 13 of the company’s machines, including a tube laser; material handling and storage systems; as well as laser, bending, and punching machinery for sheet metal. The building also has two “web pods,” rooms with computer workstations that host live training sessions over the web.

The idea is to connect classroom training with hands-on training as much as possible. Students learn theory in the classroom, then immediately go to the floor to apply what they just learned at the machines.

Classes are organized into operation and maintenance tracks. After taking the courses, students should know not only the procedures to cut or bend specific nests or parts, but also the theory behind the operation.

Of course, the quality of training depends a lot on the quality of the trainer. Engagement between student and teacher matters. “Here is where our train-the-trainer program helps,” said Benz. New trainers must know the technology, of course, but the company also works with a training consulting firm that provides strategies for conducting an engaging class. The firm educates trainers on the ways different people learn. A 50-year-old with his first flip phone may learn far differently from a 21-year-old who grew up with social media.

“Instructors need to understand how different adults learn,” Benz said. “They need to know how to deliver training and how to assess whether the training was successful.”

The event’s core focus seemed to be on the transfer of knowledge, not just between trainer and budding operator, but also between machine service technician and fabricator. Company representatives demonstrated augmented reality (AR) smart glasses that could help service technicians communicate with customers remotely. Donning the glasses, a fabricator’s machine technician sees what the TRUMPF service tech sees. The service tech marks what he sees, and the fabricator’s tech sees those same marks overlaid on top of what he’s looking at, be it an electrical cabinet or anything else. The service tech then guides the customer step by step through the process.

TRUMPF also touted its full-time, paid apprenticeship program for aspiring employees. The company started the program five years ago with two apprentices. In 2018 it has 13, and one of the program’s recent graduates happened to cut the ribbon (made of thin sheet metal, of course) during the training center expansion’s opening ceremony. “We thank the state of Connecticut,” Benz said during a press conference at the event. “The [state’s] department of labor and its apprenticeship office helped us tremendously in developing our apprentice program. We need the state to help with funding, for us and for many of the other, smaller manufacturers out there, to keep the apprenticeship program going and grow it. If only TRUMPF has an apprenticeship program, nothing will change. We need to get more manufacturers onboard to really have an effect on this issue.”

As of this writing, Gov. Dannel Malloy, facing state budget challenges, failed to extend Connecticut’s manufacturing apprenticeship tax credit. Malloy also vetoed a bill that would have granted small and medium-sized manufacturers access to the credit, though in mid-June it was unclear whether legislatures had enough votes to override the veto. Mike Demicco, Farmington, Conn.’s state house representative, was in the audience during the event’s press conference.

TRUMPF representatives tied the need for knowledge transfer to the industry’s shift toward Industry 4.0, in which jobs and information flow easily between machines and software systems, an idea demonstrated at the TRUMPF Smart Factory demonstration facility outside Chicago.

“With the digital transformation of manufacturing and society, we need to take action to prepare our workforce,” said Burke Doar, TRUMPF senior vice president.

“We’re showcasing our vision of the future of sheet metal fabrication,” Hoecklin said. “It’s our showcase for Industry 4.0, and it’s complementary to what we’re showing here in our new training center [in Connecticut]. Here, we go into depth on individual machine technologies. In Chicago, it’s about the connection between the machines, and information and material flow between the machines, where we can link processes.

“This also brings the need for more training,” Hoecklin added. “We see big changes affecting the manufacturing industry. Connectivity and digitization give us new opportunities, and this will change the role of operators, programmers, and maintenance personnel. We need to help people adapt to these new roles, to take full advantage of what new technologies have to offer.”