A well-educated workforce provides for reliable and economical operation. Qualifi ed personnel safeguard the availability and economic effi ciency of plants in the long term. The Loesche Training Centre uses the principle of ‘integrated learning‘ (the Blended Learning Concept) with the aid of the latest learning methods and media. Loesche combines online training courses with traditional attended teaching in order to consolidate the knowledge transferred in the best manner possible and with lasting eff ect. The combination of classroom training and eLearning has already successfully established itself in the advanced vocational training of Loesche personnel and is now also used for customer training.

1. TRAINING CONCEPTS
Theodora Bruns & Dr Regina Krammer –LOESCHE Gmbh
Blended Learning Concept at Loesche
A well-educated workforce provides for reliable and economical operation. Qualified personnel
safeguard the availability and economic efficiency of plants in the long term. The Loesche
Training Centre uses the principle of ‘integrated learning‘ (the Blended Learning Concept) with
the aid of the latest learning methods and media. Loesche combines online training courses
with traditional attended teaching in order to consolidate the knowledge transferred in the best
manner possible and with lasting effect. The combination of classroom training and eLearning
has already successfully established itself in the advanced vocational training of Loesche
personnel and is now also used for customer training.
N owadays, changes in society, working life, and
technical developments happen in a rapid way.
Whoever wants to keep up with this development, has
in the learning process, while also considering
individual requirements and living circumstances
of the trainees?
to train himself regularly. In Loesche’s case, this trend To find a solution for these questions, Loesche de-
towards self-education has happened in parallel with cided to start up a centralised Training Centre, based
very fast growth of the company within the last years. in Düsseldorf, Germany, which was launched in spring
An increasing number of new Loesche employees 2008. This article gives a short overview on the devel-
worldwide as well as all the experienced staff need to opment of the most suitable training resource for both
be trained regularly. Additionally, customers’ request employees and customers of Loesche worldwide.
for regular training on different levels and topics are
Below: The faces behind the
Loesche Training Centre (from increasing. Therefore, a Loesche specialist team had to The Loesche Training Centre
left to right): Regina Krammer find appropriate solutions for the following questions: The Training Centre is an integral part of customer
(eLearning author/adminis- • How can Loesche guarantee a stable and high- service at Loesche in Germany. It offers full service to
trator), Theodora Bruns (head
quality knowledge transfer to all of its employees internal clients (such as the human resources depart-
of Training Centre), Sven von
Schmid (technical writer), and customers worldwide? ment and subsidiaries of the Loesche Group) as well
Silke Keshta (technical • How can Loesche train its staff and all customers as external clients (worldwide customers) in providing
writer), and Rainer Sandtner to keep them up-to-date? qualified training courses and training material.
(technical trainer).
• How can Loesche guarantee a sufficient flexibility The enormous amount of Loesche know-how is
collected, adapted and implemented in a database.
The database enables central administration, periodic
updating and provision of this know-how from one
source. Out of this collected information, the Training
Centre defines and prepares learning content for inter-
nal and external training, in cooperation with experts
as well as external consultants.
A young, innovative team of editors, ‘eLearning’
authors and technical trainers drafts and creates train-
Loesche supplies dry-grinding plants for the
cement, mineral, pulverised coal injection (PCI)
and power generation industries, incineration
systems for decontamination, and thermal plants
for cement factories. Loesche is an independent
and family-owned company with more than 650
employees in more than 20 countries.
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2. TRAINING CONCEPTS
Left: One result of a
under the supervision and support of the trainer benchmarking study: Loesche
inside and outside of the classroom. A blended belongs to the majority
learning approach combines face-to-face training of companies (7 out of 16
with computer-mediated instruction. companies), who produce
61-100% of their eLearning
No data content internally. (from:
Classroom/personal training Benchmarking zum Thema
In the framework of blended learning, the Loesche eLearning, by Eva Schleinzer,
Training Centre relies on three main pillars of edu- Hansgrohe AG, Germany.)
cation, which are combined with each other. First of
all, there is the ‘synchronous educational method,’
the well-established classroom training: an engineer
ing and eLearning courses, documents and manuals in with long-time experience as a Loesche commission-
accordance with the latest media-didactic principles, ing supervisor is tasked with the training of learners in
tailored to the needs and requirements of the learners. vertical roller mill technology, as well as with the train-
Technical writers ensure that the contents of the ing of experienced process engineers and maintenance
course and manuals are appropriate, correct and legal, personnel. The trainer is well versed in Loesche tech-
to achieve the highest possible benefit for users and nology, Loesche customers and worldwide working
learners. Knowledge is provided by using the advan- conditions. Therefore, he is able to impart first-hand
tages of newest media, e.g. CSCL (‘computer supported knowledge.
cooperative learning’, e.g. web forums) and eLearning.
eLearning/web based training
The ‘blended learning’ concept As a second tool – if a fast and stable internet connec-
When communicating information about Loesche tion is provided – the learner can use the online version
technology, the Training Centre uses the principle of of Loesche’s training portfolio, the so-called eLearning,
‘integrated learning’ - the blended learning concept - which is a web-based training (WBT). A personalised
with the aid of the latest learning methods and media. login name and a password ensures data integrity and
We combine online training courses, which are not security for every single eLearning user. eLearning of-
tied to a specific time and fers complete self-determination
place, with traditional ‘at- for each learner, online control
tended teaching’ in order of the learning status for both Left: The concept of ‘blended
to consolidate the knowl- the learner and the trainer, and learning.’
edge imparted in the best standardised learning contents
manner possible and with with continuous evaluation. Below: Rainer Sandtner
lasting effect. In June 2009, the Loesche (left), Loesche’s technical
The combination of eLearning project took part in trainer, with his learners
attended teaching and a benchmarking analysis (see during an onsite training at
Hercules plant, South Africa.
eLearning has already suc- figure above) which focused on
cessfully established itself the use of eLearning in German
in the advanced vocational
training of Loesche per-
sonnel and is now also used
for customer training. Further
digital training methods (pro-
grams for process simulations) are
already being created. Continuous
expansion of the training package
- in terms of content and teaching
methods - will ensure that the cus-
tomers receive targeted advanced
vocational training.
In general, blended learning
means combining different teach-
ing methods, techniques and
resources and applying them in
an interactively meaningful en-
vironment to create an optimum
training program for a specific
audience. Learners should have
easy access to different learning
resources in order to apply the
knowledge and skills they learn
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3. TRAINING CONCEPTS
middle-sized businesses. The study shows clearly, that new employees will be introduced to their working en-
- at all points – the Loesche eLearning platform is in vironment and necessary programmes in a sustainable
line with the current trend of computer based training and careful way. Additionally, numerous internal and
and web learning. external classroom training sessions are offered.
In summer 2008, after an extensive implementation
Computer based training/offline learning phase, the Training Centre introduced eLearning suc-
As a third possibility, the student can learn offline, for cessfully to all Loesche employees. This was carried out
example at a job site, if no stable internet connection is in agreement with the human resources department, to
possible. This offline solution is called computer-based make sure that both Loesche employees in Düsseldorf
training (CBT) and consists of CDs, DVDs, manuals and all employees in the subsidiaries can be trained
and/or simulations. Thnaks to a special offline tool independent of time and location, in addition to class-
called Learnbase, the Training Centre is able to offer room training. Today, 620 Loesche employees all over
the world are registered for Loesche eLearning.
Web-based training Computer-based training Personal training Since the Training Centre has technical writers and
eLearning authors, who are able to design extensive
Independent (time Independent (time and location) Dependent on trainer, training documentation as well as eLearning courses
and location) and and asynchronous synchronous training in-house, fast and efficient creation of the very first
asynchronous eLearning seminars was possible. These courses con-
tain not only training on Loesche technology, but also
Internet access No internet access required Appointments required on acute and current topics such as measures in case
required of a potential worldwide pandemic (such as swine flu)
and health & safety at plant sites. Due to the world-
Automatic updates Automatic updates not possible, Direct feedback of wide presence of Loesche, all eLearning courses are
possible unless Learnbase is used trainer produced in English.
Online control of No direct learning status, unless Trainer gets an impres- Case study - Loesche’s worldwide
learning status, visible Learnbase is used sion of progress and external users
for learner and trainer learning status Generally, the customer’s site personnel are instructed
on practical topics by Loesche supervision engineers
Direct connection No direct connection between Permanent exchange during the installation and commissioning phase.
between Training Training Centre and learner between trainer and According to the specific requirements, this practical
Centre and learner learner know-how can be improved and deepened by addi-
possible tional theoretical classroom training.
To face the increasing demand for intensive in-
struction for field personnel, the Training Centre has
an automatic learning status transfer and an auto- successfully started carrying out additional extended
mated update of all eLearning contents, every time the training courses for customer field personnel since
learner enters the online eLearning platform. early 2009.
The differences between the different tools in The education is always a combination of classroom
blended learning are shown in the table below: training and plant visits and is executed by a techni-
cal trainer. The training takes place either directly at
Case study - Loesche’s internal users the customer’s plant site or at the Loesche headquar-
Loesche trains its employees regularly. During the fa- ters in Düsseldorf. Currently, we mainly cover the
miliarisation phase, colleagues or mentors ensure that demand for training on the subjects of maintenance
Right: Locations where
Loesche classroom training
sessions took place in 2009.
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4. TRAINING CONCEPTS
and process/operation. In particular, the maintenance Cement, Czech Republic, wanted “to thank for profes-
personnel will be instructed in preventive and correc- sionally performed staff training provided by Loesche
tive maintenance. All know-how which is presented in from 31 August to 3 September 2009. The training
classroom training will be repeated and demonstrated course in an area of maintenance and operation of the
in practice in the course of the plant visits. vertical roller mill was perfectly prepared and fully
All training is adapted to customer requirements professionally managed. The staff has been trained in
and will be summarised in the extensive training all important areas necessary for proper mill operation
documentation. On request, an assessment test for all and maintenance. The fact that the training course
learners can be implemented at the end of the train- took place on site also helped to improve practice and
ing. In this way, a potential lack of understanding can skills of our staff. I highly recommend the training
be revealed, discussed and cleared immediately with program as a significant contribution for improvement
the trainer. Our experiences so far have shown that of the staff qualification in area of operation and main-
classroom training mainly enhances communication tenance of Loesche’s vertical roller mills.”
between the learners. Previous attendees of Loesche
training sessions were enthusiastic about the possibility Summary and outlook
of addressing actual issues and problems face-to-face To improve the adjustment of training to the respective
with the trainer. target audience and to act independently of time and
Mr Rajasekar from Aditya Birla Cement, India, location, in January 2010 the Training Centre started to
summarised the two-weeks training, which took offer the blended learning concept to all its worldwide
place in November 2009 at Aditya, as follows: “The customers. The experiences that were already gained
programmes were well appreciated by the 65 training with the internal use of eLearning and web forums
participants. Classroom training along with field dem- have flowed into the implementation of web-based
onstration was the essence of the training module. The training for customers. Our records show that the
maintenance aspects were covered in detail during the blended learning concept is accepted only if sufficient
training. The supporting training material, visuals and information is provided and a contact person (such as
drawings were excellent and easy to understand. Based an administrator, tutor or trainer) is available during
on feedback from the Aditya Birla Group, Loesche will the entire training time. A more precise determina-
include a computer-based simulation of process pa- tion of the learning demand and a stronger interaction
rameters in the future training programmes planned. between the target group and the trainer/tutor enables Below: A typical training
cycle including all different
Overall, the training program met the objectives and an optimum, target-oriented and above all sustainable tools and media types to
can be considered as success.” knowledge transfer. guarantee a sustainable
Mr Zbynek Masek, senior project engineer at If you have any questions, please contact the au- knowledge transfer.
HTC Project Engineering Services, Ceskomoravský thors via trainingcenter@loesche.de.
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