Electrolux Gets a Jump Start With Help/Systems Training

A large implementation of new products, a schedule that’s unrealistic, and employees that need training. Sound familiar? Well, it was an all-too-true reality for Electrolux a while ago. A reality that needed changing, quickly. So, Electrolux called Help/Systems for on-site training. During on-site training, a Help/Systems trainer comes to the site and teaches how to install, configure, and use Help/Systems’ products.

The Situation

Electrolux is the largest producer of powered appliances for kitchen, cleaning, and outdoor use in the world. They manufacture and sell refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, chain saws, and lawn mowers in more than 150 countries around the world, with annual sales of approximately 105 billion dollars. In the United States alone, they have about 57,000 employees.

Their North American division IBM® System i™ computing environment uses model 595s, divided into logical partitions (LPARs). The company uses several Help/Systems products, including Robot/ CONSOLE®, the message management software and Robot/SCHEDULE®, the job scheduling and batch job management software. In addition, their entire System i network uses Robot/NETWORK®, the network management software from Help/ Systems. Jim Holmes, the North American System i Operations Manager for Electrolux explains, “I like Robot/NETWORK—it is easy to implement and integrates very effectively with Robot/CONSOLE and Robot/SCHEDULE. Robot/NETWORK really adds value to our operations.” Jim notes, “When we bought Robot/CONSOLE and our other Help/Systems products, we realized we needed an accelerated implementation to meet our production requirements. We had installed the products ourselves, but we weren’t making effective use of them.”

The Solution

For their training solution, Electrolux chose personalized on-site training that combined PowerPoint presentations and hands-on experience. Jim explains, “Help/Systems conducted the on-site training classes. The trainer put in extra hours—a lot of extra hours—to help us. Really, it was training plus implementation. Our trainer was very personable and trained a diverse group of operators effectively. In fact, the trainer was willing to work off-hour shifts to ensure that all of the operators were trained.”

First, the trainer trained the operators on Robot/ CONSOLE. Then, following the training, the operators were able to implement Robot/CONSOLE. As Jim describes it, “The operators who implemented Robot/CONSOLE found it to be fairly straightforward. They looked at it in the sense of, ‘What messages did they want and what messages did they want to bypass?’ Robot/CONSOLE is a very good product— it wasn’t difficult to implement; even easier with a little training.”

Jim elaborates, “We had a training room with terminals. The trainer emphasized the areas of the PowerPoint presentation they thought would be valid points, or would expose the operators to areas of the product they hadn’t seen before. Then, the trainer went online and worked with the operators in the actual environment.”

Electrolux had its own set of training challenges. As Jim explains, “Although we tried not to interrupt the classes too much, being on-site at the corporate office, the classes weren’t totally undisturbed— the downside of on-site training. Now I’m taking advantage of both the e-training and e-conferences (seminars) that Help/Systems offers—they’re both very good.”

The Results

The end result: everything is running smoothly and their Help/Systems products—Robot/CONSOLE, Robot/SCHEDULE and Robot/NETWORK—are being administered by their operators. Everyone at Electrolux is pleased by the results and Jim sums it up nicely: “The training staff at Help/Systems did a great job of helping us make our implementation a success. I can say the price was right and Help/Systems certainly didn’t waste anybody’s time.” Help/Systems training helped Electrolux jump-start their System i automation.