Learning and development process for Automation Equipment Makers: capturing fitter know-how
A machine shop depends on what senior fitters know and designers do not draw. Learning is how that knowledge survives past one person.
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Share your requirementsWhy learning and development process matters in automation equipment makers
A senior fitter knows how to shim a guide, align a conveyor or tune a gripper by feel. That is never on the drawing. Designers do not hear about the problem until the next job repeats it, and helpers watch without asking. When the fitter retires or leaves, the shop relearns it at the customer's cost.
A learning approach turns these tricks into shared knowledge. Trial debriefs record what was changed on the machine. Designers spend short spells on the shop floor and fitters see designs early. Helpers follow a ladder with coached tasks. A small notebook or folder of lessons builds up and new jobs start with it.
How to set it up
1. Run a debrief after each trial
Take thirty minutes at the end of every trial with designer, fitter, wireman and programmer. Write what changed and why in a short sheet.
2. Collect the lessons
Keep the sheets in a folder by machine type. Review it at the start of each new design. Our learning and development process work would set this up.
3. Swap places for a day
Have designers work on the shop floor for a day each quarter, and fitters look at drawings before a build. Both sides learn.
4. Give helpers a ladder
Write the steps from helper to fitter, with tasks signed off by a senior. Pair each helper with a coach.
5. Record senior methods
Ask senior fitters to explain one tricky job each month while someone writes it down or takes photos.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Lessons recorded from your last five trials
- Designers who have spent time on the floor this year
- Helpers with a named coach and signed-off tasks
- Problems repeated from one machine to the next
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
Give recognition, a small allowance for coaching and credit when their lesson saves time. People share when sharing is valued, not feared.
On-the-job is the core. Add formal sessions for skills such as reading complex drawings, electrical safety or programming, where a gap is clear.
Keep the folder short and use it at the start of each new design. A lesson not read at design stage may as well not exist.