The owner/operator of a joint venture project among several major petrochemical companies faced a number of challenges. The stakeholders of this Greenfield project had differing institutionalized approaches about operating philosophy, operator training and operating procedures. In addition, this project required training for operators "en masse" with limited human resources in the area of training. Finally, there were few subject matter experts on site.
TDS was engaged by the operating partner to design a training system that would fully qualify the new workforce in as little as 18 months. Some of the challenges that the system would have to address were:
In order to overcome this issue, TDS met with all project stakeholders to develop a governance process, which included development of a team of stakeholders and subject-matter experts to work on the project, and the definition of roles and responsibilities for each team member. A work process was developed to review and approve the design, and to create standards and templates for use in the creation of training materials and operating procedures. Finally, a member of the client team was appointed as the single point of contact for each of the unit development teams. This member interfaced with the TDS project managers to set milestones, review metrics and resolve process contradictions.
TDS consulted with the governance team to make recommendations regarding the design of a full curriculum model for the new process operators. The basic design that was adopted was a blended learning approach of classroom and field study with defined completion targets for each operating position on each unit. The unit-specific operations training was designed to dovetail with all "on boarding" training completed prior to unit assignment.
TDS incorporated interventions into the design to help determine where gaps existed in the newly hired workforce by deploying frequent stepwise evaluation techniques that allowed additional training time for the low skilled and for fast tracking of the more highly skilled.
The new system consisted of three major components adaptable for classroom and/or structured OJT delivery. Those components are:
Many of the experienced operators assigned to staff the complex were transferred from the sister site at the new location. In the case of common or shared systems, like Utilities, some employees did not transfer but had to learn the new systems as part of their current assignment. The Client Governance Team recognized that a wholesale redesign of the existing training system would cause unnecessary hardship for those personnel, as well as some "not invented here" attitude at the original site.
The new Training System design incorporated as many of the original design concepts of the previous system as possible in order to accommodate those concerns. Then we worked with their existing training team to explain the upgrades to the incumbent workforce and develop buy-in from all concerned.
The client had assigned approximately five experienced trainers to the project, but we determined that with the number of classes required, two trainers per process unit would be required for a total of 20. In order to prepare for that, TDS developed a four-day Train-the Trainer program and the client placed a total of 20 trainers into two scheduled sessions (10 trainees each). The trainees included the five experienced trainers and SMEs who fit the profile of a good trainer in terms of personality and desire.
As designed, the Training System we developed is actually structured OJT intended for use in training replacement employees in the future. This design is easily adapted to classroom delivery because of the Training Guides that were developed for each operation position at each new unit.
With very little effort, the Training Guides convert from structured OJT to daily and weekly lesson plans for the instructor and students.
In order to develop new training materials and operating procedures in time for a Greenfield project startup, it is necessary to begin drafting materials one to two years in advance. This means that much of the early development work will require the use of technical design data that is still in flux. Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), Material Balance Information, Process Control Narratives and P&IDs are continuously revised and updated until startup. If the project team does not plan for those issues in advance, there will be unnecessary rework, inefficiencies and much frustration within the work teams.
TDS developed work processes and communications systems that minimized all of those factors.
The estimated timeframe for startup was three years. TDS continues to support the organization with ongoing updates. Training material is validated for accuracy of actual startup processes. The implementation phase of the training is a partnership between TDS and the client. Once operational, evaluations are conducted to identify any unanticipated training gaps, close those gaps and finalize the training package for future use.
