Whether medium-sized or large enterprises, many companies in the industrial sector face the same challenge: How do we train (many!) skilled workers practically and cost-effectively in complex topics? Exactly – the easiest way is digitally! Learn in this article how e-learning and industry fit together, how you can solve the biggest challenges, and for which topics e-learning is worthwhile in production.
In Germany, approximately 5.7 million employees work in the industrial sector. This also means: 5.7 million people must regularly participate in training.
Particularly in the wake of strong digitalization, regular further training is becoming increasingly important in industry: production staff must be well trained in order to work efficiently with new procedures, processes, and machines. Classroom training is complex, expensive, and directly conflicts with high productivity goals at the workplace. The goal must therefore be to make further training fast, standardized, and flexible. E-learning offers these possibilities.
E-Learning and Industry – How Do They Fit Together?
When it comes to the word "digital", Germany's industrial sector is not among the top industries: with a digitalization index of 60 out of 100 points, it lags far behind other sectors such as logistics and information. Digital offerings (for both customers and employees) perform particularly poorly. This is shown in the following graphic:
But the current digitalization study (see infographic for a summary) also shows: The trend is upward – industry is becoming more and more digital! In the course of the Corona crisis, investments were made primarily in digital tools and mobile end devices. This also opens up opportunities to carry out training digitally – and thus increase employee productivity.
HR developers and trainers in industry should harness these advantages early on, so that industrial companies remain competitive in the long term!
Advantages of E-Learning in Industry and Production
E-learning makes it possible to standardize knowledge. All employees access uniform online resources, quickly obtaining consistent and up-to-date knowledge for their daily work routines.
E-learning ensures up-to-date content. Classic handbooks and training materials also guarantee consistent knowledge, but do not guarantee up-to-date content: "Printed today, outdated tomorrow!" – On the other hand, you can quickly adapt, replace, or supplement digital learning content.
E-learning saves time. By learning directly at or close to the workplace, classroom training can be replaced or shortened through online accompaniment (blended learning). Employees can learn flexibly at their workplace and during working hours, without time delays or absences.
Reading tip: Info page "Blended learning in practice"
E-learning is scalable. Unlike training rooms, online courses are also suitable for large groups of participants. This makes e-learning an effective solution from SMEs with 10 production employees to large enterprises with several thousand employees.
Diverse advantages – yet e-learning is currently still rarely used in the industrial sector. So what speaks against digital solutions for understanding practical processes?
Challenges for E-Learning in Industry & Production
The benefits are clear. But how can you get started with e-learning in the industrial sector? We summarize typical challenges – and how you can solve them!
Challenge 1: No access to online-enabled devices at the workplace
In an interview with blink.it, SME digitalization expert Stefan Enzler reports on challenges that apply to the production sector of all company sizes:
"Often there is a computer in the companies themselves, but the location is not in a suitable learning environment and overall there are too few devices for the employees. The infrastructure is often lacking for digital learning to be implemented smoothly.“
Solution: Devices and/or learning spaces for production employees
To fully exploit the opportunities of e-learning, companies must upgrade technically. Tablets, which employees can use flexibly directly at the workplace, can be a good solution. Some companies have also successfully set up learning spaces with several computers. Employees share these on a shift basis.
Solution for poor access to computers: With tablets, production employees can learn directly at their workplace.
Challenge 2: Old learning culture causes employee resistance
According to digitalization expert Stefan Enzler (link to the interview above), it is primarily a cultural problem that holds employees back from e-learning:
"Often the mindset 'If I'm just looking at the computer, I'm not being productive!' still prevails (...) At the level of shift supervisors or production employees, leaving the workplace to learn during working hours is a strong cultural break.”
Solution: New learning culture in industrial companies
A lacking or incorrect learning culture is not an exclusive problem of the industrial sector, but currently a challenge in almost all industries. Ideally, the management takes the first step: leaders such as shift supervisors or foremen should act as role models, clearly communicate learning times, and promote learning as part of the job.
Reading tip: Personnel Development: Learning culture begins in the executive suite!
Challenge 3: (Lacking) IT affinity of production employees
The third major problem: digital media is not part of the daily work routine for most production employees. Stefan Enzler says on this:
"In their private lives, employees use smartphones to navigate this digital world, watch videos, and actively search for information. But at work, they wait for information and do not use the digital world as independently as they do at home.”
Solution: Increase motivation, minimize barriers
To get employees to accept e-learning as a new digital method, two steps help:
You must clearly convey the benefits, ideally directly and personally. Employees need to understand why participating in e-learning is important and helpful for them and their work. This increases the motivation to engage with digital tools.
Choose the simplest possible e-learning tool, such as blink.it, which has proven itself in many SMEs and production companies. Pay attention to simple, intuitive operation so as not to confuse less IT-savvy employees. This keeps the entry barrier low.
Summary: Challenges & Solutions in Industry
Challenge in E-Learning | Solution for E-Learning |
No access to online-ready devices at the workplace | Provision of tablets or learning rooms with several computers |
Negative attitude of employees towards learning | Establish a new learning culture, leaders act as role models, set up learning times |
Lacking IT affinity of employees | Clearly convey the benefits of e-learning, choose a simple e-learning tool to lower the barrier to entry |
These topics are suitable for e-learning in production
In principle, e-learning is suitable for almost all work-relevant topics. However, you can convey three major focus areas from industry particularly easily or effectively digitally: occupational safety, machine handling, and onboarding.
Occupational safety as e-learning
With e-learning, you can suddenly make "dry" safety instructions exciting and realistic! For example, with videos filmed directly at the workplace showing potential hazard situations. You can update changes or additions to safety regulations more easily in an online course than in a handbook or handout. Also, most LMS (Learning Management Systems) today can automatically issue certificates that employees can use to prove their regular participation in safety training.Operation of machines as e-learning
Video creation is particularly simple and cheap for technical instructions: experienced colleagues can film short videos showing the correct hand movements. New employees can practically "look over their shoulder" here and apply what they have seen themselves directly. Precise instructions or videos also support employees in daily business: if employees can access the learning videos directly at the workplace, they can solve upcoming questions or problems directly themselves ("I'll just check the video again"). This minimizes interruptions and avoids operating errors.Onboarding of new production employees as e-learning
Learning videos also save time and effort during the onboarding of new employees: an onboarding course can also include a lot of information that is otherwise distributed either orally or in paper form (and often quickly lost): general regulations, IT inductions, service and room plans, and so on - simply everything that new employees need in their first few days. As e-learning, this information is always flexibly available, does not get lost, and can be reused for every new employee. Win-win: this also saves time in the HR department and for those responsible at the workplace.
Conclusion: Why investing in e-learning pays off for industry
E-learning offers great opportunities for industry and production: through standardization and flexibility, both time savings and higher employee productivity are achieved. The most common problems, such as a lack of devices, can be easily resolved. This pays off in the long term for companies that now exploit the possibilities of e-learning in industry and production.
An important basis for any successful e-learning in industry is an e-learning tool that is easy to use for both those responsible for training and the employees. In practice, blink.it has proven itself in manufacturing companies, from SMEs to large corporations. Simply try it out for yourself!
