5 Benefits of Effective Warehouse Mechanical, Software and Automation Solutions Training

Breanna Finley & Alyssa Mackin | 12 June 2024

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."

- Benjamin Franklin

We’ve seen it time and time again with various customers, across industries. Your automated warehouse system is integrated, tested and is meeting expectations, but to further unlock the potential of your material handling automation investment, a thorough and effective technical training goes a long way

Bastian Solutions' approach to training our customers incorporates both classroom sessions and hands-on learning, fostering an environment where trainees engage in day-in-the life scenarios of operational and maintenance procedures, becoming personally invested in their own learning. 

What does Quality Solutions Training Look Like?

Quality training can provide numerous benefits to your organization such as:

1. Reducing common errors
2. Increasing productivity
3. Decreasing risk and safety issues
4. Improving employee satisfaction
5. Lowering operating costs

As you consider the commitment of solutions technical training, understand why it is one of the most valuable aspects of a project lifecycle. You just spent millions of dollars building a new facility (or retrofitting an existing one) full of automation and have hired enough staff to run it; however, most of your new employees have never touched this technology before. Now what?

This is where solutions technical training steps in. Highly effective training is more than just an employee showing an operator or maintenance technician how to press buttons. Quality and effective solutions technical training provides the how and why, while meeting the various learning types of individuals.

Reducing Errors

Many errors can be avoided through effective training, increasing the quality the work. Errors are costly in many ways, including the cost of rework, time spent in resolution and customer relationship management. Looking at it from a cost perspective, we can estimate the cost of each error multiplied by the number of errors to get a total cost of money spent correcting errors which could have been prevented if trained properly.

Teaching employees the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind performing their day-to-day tasks reduces errors and provides them the tools to troubleshoot minor errors when they do arise. With the Bastian Solutions Train-the-Trainer model, we provide operations, maintenance and safety training that ensure trainees have the knowledge to properly train their associates.  

Increased Productivity

Well-trained employees will spend less time asking questions and require less support from management when they have the knowledge and resources to complete their job duties. This allows coworkers and management to spend more time performing additional tasks. Effective solutions technical training provides materials such as customer specific presentations, troubleshooting guides, videos and more to proactively train future employees efficiently to ensure there is minimal to no downtime at your facility.

Decrease Risks and Safety Issues

Improper use of equipment can result in costly damages. No amount of money saved on training can ever outweigh the loss of life due to unsafe practices with highly automated equipment.

Consider the long-term cost of maintenance, including hours for technicians, lost time of productivity, property damage and medical expenses for employees not taught safe working practices. Employees that are trained on how to utilize equipment will extend the life of your equipment and ensure safe outcomes.

Lowering Operating Costs

Embracing technology in the modern day plays an imperative role in lowering operating cost as less labor is needed to perform the same task. Unless investing in a lights-out system, operators need to be taught how to use the new technology to improve their processing time.

Bastian Solutions uses MOST (Maynard Operation Sequence Technique) studies to analyze time and motion of tasks performed within a warehouse or distribution center. Through the implementation of advanced technologies like goods-to-person systems, combined with solutions technical training on how to operate and maintain those systems, and employees invested in learning, companies should expect improved MOST analysis results, meaning reduced time spent performing tasks which were done manually.

When employees have been trained effectively, mechanical errors and system downtime are decreased, which in turn allows operations to run more smoothly and reduce operating expenses. Investing in an exceptional system without solutions technical training would be like handing someone a race car without teaching them how to drive it. Without a properly trained workforce, additional downtime, mechanical errors, reduced speed to complete orders, and additional time spent troubleshooting are likely to have the opposite effect and increase operating cost.

Improve Employee Satisfaction

A common workspace stressor seen in a warehouse environment is an inability to meet throughput expectations, due to a lack of training. A mismatch of expectations from leaders and performance, can ultimately lead to unsatisfied employees, burnout or turnover. The cost of support needed for an untrained employee is much higher than a well-trained one, as they require additional feedback to meet expectations. Employees may also leave due to poor training and unclear expectations, resulting in additional hiring and training costs. Once an employee knows how to do his or her job, satisfaction in accomplishing a task and being able to meet performance expectations will increase.

Author: Alyssa Mackin, Breanna Finley