Automating Training in the Maintenance Shop

Training in the GSE industry? Yes, you have to do it. Skills can't be maintained without it and training in the assembly, operation and maintenance of ground support equipment has some built in challenges. The equipment is constantly being updated, forcing ongoing retaining. The equipment is sent all over the world so the training often has to be multi-lingual, leaving you with four categories of training options:

• Depend primarily on a live trainer
• Use the printed manuals
• Show video presentations
• A mix of all three

PRINTED MANUALS

Printed manuals are excellent references for supporting live training, but it can be a bad idea to depend in them exclusively. There will always be phone calls for explanations. Those calls can come from confused customers anywhere in the world and you'll need qualified, multi-lingual personnel to answer the phones. The manuals will have to be translated too...and updated and retranslated in subsequent editions. You might as well be proactive and send out live trainers as part of the training package.

LIVE TRAINERS

Though live trainers belong in the mix, it's probably a mistake to depend exclusively on them. The trainers are only human. A trainer can have his/her good and bad days, but that reciprocates into good or bad training sessions. You need standardization and uniformity to provoke excellence.

Again, ground support equipment goes to airlines and maintenance shops all over the world. Traveling trainers have to master their subjects in several different languages. Those highly qualified, multi-lingual trainers are out there, but they are also highly paid. A reasonably large staff of them will add quite a bit to the training budget and ultimately to the cost of the equipment.

Even large training staffs will often be spread thin. Translators might help in some instances. But if the material is highly technical you don't want to risk information being lost in translation. Live training must have something to back it up.

VIDEO TRAINING

A picture is worth a thousand words. If the picture moves and is supported by narration, its worth much more. Thus, I recommend videos, in some form, with speech dubbed in different languages and/or with subtitles. Like the two previous options videos can't stand alone. They fit into a part of a training recipe, but they shouldn't be overlooked.

Videos can show much more than printed manuals and they can take some of the travel pressure off of multi-lingual trainers. Continuous live demonstrations are just not feasible. When the trainer can’t get there, you shouldn't just send a manual; send an electronic learning aid, a tape or disk, along with the manual.

We probably should discuss the costs. Video training-aids are often priced by the finished video minute...the total viewing time, a cost that starts our around $500 per finished minute.

For some cash-strapped small equipment manufacturers that be frightening, but you do get what you pay for. GSE equipment used in aircraft engine removal, support and servicing must be operated properly. If not, a very expensive aircraft engine could be damaged. Electronic training aids can easily pay for themselves by avoiding mishaps. These training aids can also be useful in support of baggage handing and passenger loading equipment. The video training option should be sold as an option, an upgrade with the equipment so the cost can be passed on efficiently to the end user.

What are the electronic options? Don’t write off VHS video tapes just yet. Many airlines around the world still keep VCRs in the maintenance shops. The tapes do deteriorate, but can be easily copied to other tapes or DVDs.

On the other hand, CDs and DVDs have several key advantages. DVDs run on computers and DVD players. Also, they can be interactive. That second characteristic is interesting in that It allows viewers to choose what they want to see. They may choose assembly, operation or maintenance. If the subject is maintenance they can choose lubrication, trouble shooting or how to remove and replace critical parts.

You can go with one large DVD or a series of small, handy, business card-sized CDs which deal with specific procedures. The card-sized CDs usually hold 40 megabytes so you can’t load more than one or two procedures on them. You can use them as handy, monthly preventive maintenance guides or you can use them as a video trouble shooting guide.

The content is critical. The electronic training aid must show the procedure in its entirety. If it doesn't, it's of no value to the viewer. A trainer does the procedure on camera and an announcer narrates what the trainer is doing. Close-ups are used when needed and a few words appear on the screen to summarize the action. The process is repeated for every important step or procedure, but the language should be kept simple...especially if it's going to be translated.

Again, the electronic training aid can't replace the live trainer. It shouldn't even replace the printed manual, but it fits into the mix of all three. The live trainer gives a presentation when the equipment is delivered or installed then leaves manuals and training tapes or disks behind. The disks and tapes are used as a review for old procedures and to update new personnel.

When the print media is combined with a custom training video and a single demonstration from a live trainer, training in the maintenance shop translates from merely reading a manual to a memorable experience with supplemental material for those who need a short refresher course.