Training Consultancy Case Studies

Royal Mail – Siemens Dematic

Business Requirement: Training and Consultancy Programme

GP Solution

Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC) – a new, state of the art facility, with the capacity to handle millions of mail items per day. There is no other site in the world that at the present time comes close in terms of automated mail sorting. 

GP’s co-partners in this project for the design and development of a training solution for Operators and Maintainers at the HWDC are Siemens Dematic and Royal Mail. GP has collaborated on previous occasions with Siemens Dematic, a world leader in material handling and logistics automation, successfully implementing solutions for the US Postal Service. 

The custom built system at the HWDC incorporates the latest state of the art mail handling and processing equipment and will process all international mail in and out of the UK via its two largest Air Mail Units (Heathrow and Gatwick). The facility is the biggest of its kind within the world at the present time. At normal capacity it will be able to process 7 million mail items per day, with a peak capacity of 10 million items per day. Covering an area the size of six football pitches, it contains over 7 miles of conveyering.

Royal Mail sees its workforce as a highly motivated new generation of mail sorting personnel and has recruited a highly skilled workforce. To design and develop the training for this facility required a dynamic and open-minded engineering approach to training and Royal Mail therefore chose GP for this purpose. Who better to design and develop training than an open-minded forward-looking highly-motivated engineering team who utilise the best practices in Training Design and Development to produce a flexible and coherent training solution to meet the demands of the Mail processing facilities of the future?

“The real success is in the obliging customer focused approach that the GP team have taken often against the back drop of delay. The team are always innovative in their approach to supporting the operation and finding work-arounds to deliver the training we require.”

Stan Clark, Head of International Operations in Royal Mail.

There are 3 elements to the GP contract with Royal Mail and Siemens Dematic:

1.     Operations Training – Design, Development and Delivery

2.     Maintenance Engineering Training– Design, Development and Delivery

3.     Production Control System (PCS) Training – Design, Development and Delivery

1. Operations Training – Design, Development and Delivery

The Job Task Analysis for operations and maintenance positions formed the basis for the training programs that GP is developing to support the training needs of Royal Mail operators and maintenance staff.

GP provides a training integrator role within the overall project, capturing information on site by accessing raw data from the shop floor or Subject Matter Experts from Royal Mail (operational expertise) and Siemens Dematic (technical expertise).

GP provides three technical trainers to train in Arrivals and Despatch operations at the HWDC site. On a day-to-day basis, Royal Mail’s nominated manager/on-site coordinator, in consultation with the appropriate GP project manager, coordinates the workload of the GP supplied personnel according to the priorities of Royal Mail’s operations training programme. This includes supporting knowledge transfer, coaching and train the trainer programmes where requested.

The on-site GP team of technical trainers/consultants and project managers have an extensive background in engineering and training, with considerable experience on mechanical, electrical/electronic, automation and communication systems. Some of the technical trainers have been on site for over two years and others have been involved in this project for almost a year now. GP has ensured the continuity of personnel involved in this project; consequently between the three teams on-site, GP has significantly contributed to the success of the operations training roll out.

2. Maintenance Engineering Training – Design Development and Delivery

GP provides experienced training development professionals at the HWDC to help Royal Mail’s maintenance department with their own in-house engineering training activities.

GP Technical Training Consultants are primarily employed in the design, development and delivery of Maintenance Training material, working alongside and as an integral part of the Engineering Training Group. Their primary role is the assimilation of Technical Manual information to incorporate into training material supporting the maintenance of all equipments and support interfaces within the HWDC. Areas focused on include equipment sub-systems, theory of operations, corrective and preventive maintenance, troubleshooting and power distribution.

As part of this process, GP Technical Training Consultants are required to gather a large volume of technical information from Siemens Dematic, Royal Mail and equipment suppliers/vendors and process in parallel with each other to produce high quality fit-for-purpose training documentation. To support this, training lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations and practical training exercises have been developed and implemented within relatively short timescales to the requirements of the customer. Training material is delivered in association with Royal Mail trainers where applicable.

3. Production Control System (PCS) Training – Design, Development and Delivery

PCS is a distributive processing system controlling all automated operations within HWDC, providing the man-machine interface to allow Shift Managers, Supervisors and Operators to interact with the automated equipment. 

GP Technical Training Consultants are primarily employed in the design, development and delivery of PCS training material. Areas focused on include Supervisory and Management functions that the shop floor management personnel require to control and monitor operations. Further to the operational side of PCS control there is a distinct and separate database management toolset which allows the analysis team to monitor, adjust and control resource allocation to provide dynamic solutions to facility throughput.

As part of this process, GP Technical Training Consultants are required to gather a large volume of technical and operational procedural information to process in parallel with each other to produce high quality fit-for-purpose training documentation. To support this training,Instructor Guides, PowerPoint presentations, lesson plans, handouts/workbooks, instructor-led exercises/practical labs, workshops, qualification cards are provided for each identified job position.  Additionally a detailed training plan for the ongoing implementation and administration of training is developed and implemented within relatively short timescales to requirements of the customer.

In order to achieve the training objectives, GP compared actual system functionality against the latest PCS Job Task Analysis. The information gained allowed for the development of training objectives based on actual tasks and allowed Royal Mail to make robust decisions on the tasks that can be applied to developing job titles. Objectives were then combined to form training modules, which in turn were organised into training courses by job titles. At this point any training synergies between job roles were identified and course profiles adjusted accordingly. Finally the existing PCS Overview course was reviewed to ensure the content was appropriate for each course group.

Training Delivery

GP’s training delivery methods are flexible and include processes for updating materials and individuals with new software releases and new technical/operational information. To support the PCS training for Managers and Supervisors a modular approach and an increasing dependence on practical training is employed to ensure knowledge transfer is at the equipment level as far as is possible and practicable.

“GP has produced professional quality material whilst being very flexible and responsive to changes in requirements and technical information. They have been an integral partner in the overall training programme and key to its success.”

Steve Kramar, Engineering Manager in Siemens Dematic.

To improve effectiveness and control, a Steering Committee has been formed from project managers and Subject Matter Experts from each organisation. Contract decision makers were also identified to attend the steering committee meetings as needed when major decisions are required. Regular monthly meetings are held to monitor the consultancy days expended in each phase, as well as achievements and the quality of deliverables.

Theoretical Training

Theoretical training is delivered prior to the practical (labs); however theoretical course modules also contain some practical elements where possible in order to retain interest (i.e. act as energisers). Common tasks across job titles have been identified in order to allow for generic training modules where possible, allowing for a hierarchical training plan. This process results in smaller classes as the course modules become more specialised and the practical content increases.

Practical (Labs)

The philosophy of the practical elements of training (labs) is, where possible, an exact reproduction of how individuals would be required to practically apply the training in their working environment.

For PCS practical training, the lab sessions consist of a demonstration/explanation of individual tasks (demonstration strategies will depend on task). Some complex tasks need to be broken down into sub-tasks, in order to achieve this. During this process, the aim is to cover all of the tasks, ensuring that the skills and knowledge identified during the JTA are covered. Further to this, any exceptions are also included. During this stage of the training, the trainer provides explanations, coaching and encouragement. 

On completion of practical training (labs), students are required to demonstrate their competency. This normally takes the form of practical exercises that consolidate a group of tasks reflecting as closely as possible the required practical application in their working environment.