Learning and development process for Avionics Hardware Makers: a staged path for test technicians
Test technicians learn diagnosis on faults, not manuals. A learning process with a fault list, a named senior and staged sign-off brings new staff to trust faster and spreads the senior's skill.
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Without a plan, a new test technician watches the senior and picks up what he can. The senior is busy, so questions are brief and mistakes show up as damaged boards. The new person hesitates to touch a unit, then touches the wrong thing. Soldering skill is learned the same way: by whoever has time. If the senior is absent, units wait in the queue. Engineers send revisions often, and operators are unsure what changed.
Good looks like a written list of faults in order of difficulty, with each signed off first with help, then alone. A named senior meets the trainee weekly. Hand soldering has stages from simple joints to fine pitch, signed by sample. When a revision changes a board, a short note is read at the bench before work starts. Training time is on the calendar and counted as work, so it is not squeezed out by orders.
How to set it up
1. Write the fault list in order
List common faults by difficulty and what to check first. Ask the senior technician which faults only he can find, and put those at the top.
2. Name a senior for each trainee
One senior at a time, with a weekly review of faults tried, found and missed. Free the senior from some output while training. See learning and development process.
3. Sign off in stages
Each fault is signed first with help and then alone. Soldering stages are signed by work sample. Keep the record at the bench.
4. Explain revisions at the bench
When engineering changes a board, a short note explains what changed and why. The supervisor reads it to the bench before work starts.
5. Put learning on the calendar
Block hours each week for training, review and practice on scrap boards. Protect them in busy months.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask your senior test technician which faults only he can find, and who is learning them.
- List trainees with the last fault signed off and the date.
- Count how many hours of training were held last month and what they covered.
- Ask three operators what changed in the last revision and how they found out.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach learning and development process in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
It depends on the range of units tested, but many shops use months, not weeks. Write a list of faults to master in order and sign them off one by one.
Yes, and it is a good idea. Keep a tray of marked scrap boards and faults to find. Practice on scrap lets people learn without risk to live units.
Make teaching part of his grade, document the hard faults as he finds them and train a second person on each. Recognise him for it so he does not feel replaced.