Versatile Learning Options: KHS Campus Pools its Training Program and Includes Even More Digital Options

KHS customers can choose a suitable, authoritative training option for their machines with their order, for commissioning and during all phases of operation. Depending on requirements, these either take place on site, at KHS’ various training facilities or as online seminars. New to the portfolio is the KHS Virtual Training Center (VTC), with which the systems provider is continuously expanding its range of study units available when and wherever required.

“Training during commissioning of a machine is the inevitable classic in our repertoire of service training courses,” states Ralf Müller, head of the KHS Training Department. “However, our entire portfolio of different learning options is much more extensive than this. Bringing order to this for our customers, also regarding our new digital units, was the main reason for pooling all of our study units anew under the umbrella of KHS Campus.”

Customized introduction to KHS technology
KHS Campus Live is the largest of the four pillars that make up KHS Campus. Besides the in-house courses run at the company’s own training centers, the portfolio includes direct on-site basic and refresher courses at the bottling plant that can be held during commissioning and six or twelve months after installation by way of revision. “Providing an introduction to the operation and maintenance of our lines and machines is standard,” Müller says. Depending on requirements, courses can also be held as soon as the order for a machine has been placed. KHS has an international expert network of regional instructors and operates training centers on all continents. Customer engineers can thus take part in training measures in advance. In doing so, they gain a more detailed picture of the various stages involved in the assembly of KHS lines and machines by studying the components before these are permanently installed at their own bottling plant – as is usually the case.

Seminars on specific topics for further training
As opposed to the classroom courses held at KHS or on the customer’s own site, KHS Campus Seminars provide more concrete training on issues such as line optimization or quality assurance. The group of those taking part can be limited to operative personnel, for example, or opened up to participants from other departments if desired. “The subjects dealt with by our extensive program of further training range from standard to very specific topics,” explains Müller.

Close supervision of individual students and small study groups
The KHS Campus Develop module consists of extremely intensive and lengthy learning processes. It centers on the qualification of various functionaries through study programs that issue a final certificate and on individually customized training. Examples include specific coaching offers, one-on-one operator instruction or specialized, advanced further training for operators already long familiar with their equipment. “In this superordinate form of learning KHS is comparable to a personnel development partner who helps clients to pick suitable employees,” is how Müller describes this concept. In all of its greenfield projects the Dortmund systems provider has closely assisted its customers right from the start when choosing personnel, including running selection tests.

Virtual training: maximum flexibility
The flagship and fourth pillar of the KHS Campus brand is the Virtual Training Center (VTC) that is to be successively expanded to cover various product groups and provides a completely new form of self-study. “We’ve made a promising start with the concept of individual e-learning courses on our KHS canning lines,” Müller states. “The asynchronous study option is designed to close the gaps that can’t be covered by conventional forms of learning with physical trainers in real time. Here, short course units, films, presentations and descriptions in the virtual environment give participants answers to specific questions in a manner that’s clear and entertaining. Users can move virtually to what are known as study points on a machine through an avatar, for example, and be shown how a valve is replaced with the help of dedicated film sequences.” It is also possible for personnel to work their way through various units of a structured study program and obtain a score for the issue of a certificate. So that the virtual international training platform developed together with technology service provider Etteplan is universally applicable, various language versions have been planned. The licenses required for the VTC are personalized and can be booked per employee for a fixed term and period of use. Users are given their own access to the KHS Campus Virtual training platform that stores their level of knowledge and individual study goals, also anonymously if required, thus providing the maximum study incentive.

“As a provider of customized systems and solutions for the beverage industry, our extensive study program needs to cater for different demands and a wide range of requirements,” Rolf Müller emphasizes. “By pooling our services under the KHS Campus label as best we can and constantly further developing our blended learning options, we’re setting standards on the market.”