"Learning must be a passion."
Making learning an experience – that's the promise of Peter Reisch, Head of the KSB SupremeServ Academy. Reisch and his team deliver courses and hands-on training worldwide to prepare KSB employees and customers for the future. In this interview, he explains how to successfully impart knowledge that not only sticks, but inspires learners across different continents.
Stream of Stories: The KSB SupremeServ Academy aims to make learning an experience. What experience can I expect if I come to you as a trainee?
Peter Reisch: You will see straight away that we truly live our motto, learning with passion. This will be apparent in the friendly faces, the consistent visual identity, the modern facilities and even the fruit on the table. These three words perfectly encapsulate our vision of training, which extends from quality content and professional trainers to an inspiring concept and methodology. We want all our course participants to say, "That was really useful and interesting, and I'd love to return." To reinforce the practical relevance of our training, our workshop area here in Frankthal covers more than 500 m2 and contains all possible pump types, from the extremely compact to pumps that would not even fit in my office.
The KSB SupremeServ Academy has locations around the world. How do you maintain consistent quality across so many countries and cultures?
Our ten academies worldwide all rely on the same standardised content. A course for a single-stage pump, for example, has the same structure in every country, whether it is held in Bangkok, Shanghai or Frankenthal. Only the language is different. However, the success of a regional academy depends on dedicated management and a good team of trainers with the necessary methodological skills.
When covering content during training, how do you also accommodate the culture of the learners?
Our staff are very experienced at working with different cultures. It is particularly important to us to accommodate different religions. At the academy in Frankenthal, for instance, we have the Room of Quiet, where anyone can go to pray or retreat for inner reflection. We also respect the dietary requirements of different cultures, of course.
Besides courses for KSB employees, you also offer courses for customers. How do the two types of courses differ?
Our customer training courses are tailored to the individual customer requirements and can also be delivered at the customer's site. In this case, we send pumps to the site to provide training directly on the premises. I am particularly proud to report that, for many customer courses, we have increased the practical content to 80 percent. Participants can therefore get plenty of hands-on experience and apply what they have learnt. I have been delighted by the positive response to the courses.
"Engineers really have to feel how hard it is to undo a bolt or what a bearing assembly feels like to remove."
Peter Reisch
Technology is progressing with lightning speed. How do you adapt the content?
KSB's service is becoming increasingly digital. More and more products are becoming automated or can be monitored digitally. As a result, we are offering a growing number of training courses for digital products. Since the start of the year, it has been wonderful to have access to the newly built Smart Experience Center, with its multiple test set-ups comprising pumps and water circuits, for our courses. Here, learners are able to connect a pump in a water circuit and parameterise it with a smartphone. Malfunctions, such as a control system failure or loss of pressure, for example, can also be simulated. Learners can use special diagnostic apps to detect malfunctions and reparameterise the unit.
It is not only the content that is changing. The way people learn is changing too. Do you think that online training will one day replace in-person events?
We are becoming increasingly hybrid, combining online training and on-site courses. For technical applications, however, hands-on training will always be required. Engineers really have to feel how hard it is to undo a bolt or what a bearing assembly feels like to remove. However, teaching methods are also always evolving. Since the start of the year, we have been creating our first training programmes using Learning & Development methodology, which tailor the content to the needs of the learner. When it comes to learning what to do with gaskets, for example, a sales employee has entirely different needs and prior knowledge to an engineer. We are therefore building training courses from small learning units to address the needs and prior knowledge of individual learners. The courses will include regular knowledge tests to track the learner's success on their learning journey and keep them motivated.
Looking to the future, where do you see the academy in five years?
From a global perspective, we are aiming for a similar training frequency at academies in the Regions to what we already have here in Europe. We want to increase both the number of courses offered and the number of customers trained. To manage such a high number of courses around the world, we will need a central, worldwide learning management system to organise and automate training invitations, admittance at the factory gate, catering and hotels, for example. Our central learning management system is called youLEARN@KSB and, for me, is the basis for all academies. A project is currently underway to make the system usable for all academies worldwide.
