A CEO’s Review of NIBA Technical Training Seminars

A CEO’s Review of NIBA Technical Training Seminars

by Stephenie Davis, CEO of Davis Industrial

Stephenie Davis is the Chair of NIBA’s Education-Technology Committee. She attended NIBA’s spring Technical Training Seminars alongside her team to discover if they really are worth the investment.

As Chair of NIBA’s Education-Technology Committee, I wanted to see how we could improve our educational course offerings for our members. As a CEO, I wanted to see what I was signing my employees up for.

Would it be worth the investment? Would they gain anything from it that they could bring back to the team and implement?

Even though 100% of the spring course attendees said they would recommend the program to others, I put my chair hat on and set out to discover what we could do to improve the experience. As CEO, I wanted to see for myself what all the hype is about. How exciting can Track, Train, and Troubleshoot (3T) be? So, I packed my bags and headed to the 3T Training in Calera, Alabama, the self-proclaimed “Heart of Dixie” which happened to be home to our host quarry, Carmuse Lime & Stone.

Track, Train, and Troubleshoot

We were greeted the first evening at the local Cracker Barrel for the “Meet the Trainers” dinner, where Dick McConnel, Buddy Wilson, Mike Hesslau and Brad Bundy introduced themselves and got to know the attendees in advance of the next day’s training. The following two days were a whirlwind of information taught by true experts. Two of our survey responders said it: “They covered a wide range of topics, everything that comes to mind when you think of conveyors” and “I enjoyed the whole view of how every part makes a happy or unhappy belt.” After all, nobody wants an unhappy belt.

It was rapid-fire education in an easy-to-consume style. In the classroom sessions, Buddy Wilson demonstrated belt tension forces by asking attendees to hold their arms high above their heads in a W pattern while he pointed his finger to his nose animatedly with every correct answer. At the onsite visits, attendees walked the systems collaborating, surveying, and documenting issues impacting the plant operations. The debrief upon return to the classroom showed that the information taught had really made an impact. I left the training feeling pleased and also perplexed about how we can improve the program for the fall courses.

Key Principles and Best Practices of Lightweight Belting

The following week, I traveled to the bustling town of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is evidently the “Center of Office Furniture Manufacturing.” Who knew?

I approached the Key Principles and Best Practices of Lightweight Belting course, held at Flexco’s stunning new facility, in the same manner I had for 3T: As a chair —How do we improve? As a CEO — What are my people going to gain from this?

Again, I was pleasantly surprised at how Chad Ackerman, Don Rabb, Mike Wieland, Sander Romers, and Mark Green could capture the attention and interest of almost 30 people for two straight days. After a half day of getting the basics of lightweight belt types and constructions, we visited Uniband’s facility where they were in the process of mixing the compounds and manufacturing the belting. The attendees raved that this was one of the best parts of the training as it pulled together everything they had learned that morning and set the baseline for the hands-on portion of the training the following day.

It was great to see the mix of attendees learning and collaborating — from those on only their second day of work, to those with more than 30 years’ experience in the industry. It didn’t matter that some were in sales or management or even field technicians, they all discovered something new. Even my heavyweight salespeople devoured the information and said it truly opened their eyes to the possibilities out there.

I’ll never forget Don Rabb’s “Junk in The Trunk” presentation — a real-life demonstration on how to approach and be prepared for a sales call. He kept it educational while still upbeat and fun.

From the chair perspective, I was excited to see the involvement from every member of the audience. Maybe they were all vying for that $500 Rubber Ron Scholarship in 3T and the Steve Fournier Scholarship in lightweight training. You could see the interest in their note taking and the questions they were asking. I knew our attendees were in good hands and getting great value from the training and the take-home materials.

From the CEO perspective, it was the answers to the questions, the knowledge and experience of the trainers, and the hands-on demonstrations that gave me confidence my people were in good hands. And I was able to see the fruits of that investment immediately upon their return. We sent employees from management, sales, and service; they all came away saying they would highly recommend these trainings for employees at any level of an organization. We will definitely send several attendees in the fall.

What I learned on behalf of NIBA, is that we need more training programs like these. The NIBA Education-Technology Committee is working diligently on developing NIBA’s online certificate courses and we welcome your suggestions for those, as well as future in-person trainings. Perhaps, an advanced lightweight course and some application-specific training for both heavyweight and lightweight is to come. Let us know what you think.