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Spotlight on Fowler Products Company One hundred percent of Fowler Products Company’s service technicians are PMMI Certified Trainers. The Athens, GA-based division of ProMach, specializing in capping and cap-handling equipment, saw an opportunity for its technicians to benefit from the ‘quality training’ the PMMI Certified Trainer Program has provided since 2002. Doug Newcomer, aftermarket services manager at Fowler, points out that the packaging machinery industry lacked a formal training program prior to the one PMMI initiated to assist member companies to better serve their customers. The challenge faced by Fowler and other companies was to find a uniform, balanced approach to training that could be applied in the new era of packaging machinery technology. The training methods utilized twenty or thirty years ago were outmoded as the equipment began incorporating electronic as well as mechanical elements. Newcomer was looking to address the customer’s need for high-quality training, in turn raising the training level of the technicians. “I was seeking a way to gain additional insight, a different perspective – a more ‘macro-view’ of training that would better meet customer needs,” he states. “The Certified Trainer program has provided Fowler technicians with a packaged ‘pick-from’ training agenda to complement the operational guides that accompany each of Fowler’s products.” Not only does Fowler see the benefit of ensuring their service technicians take the best approach to training the customer’s equipment operators, but many of their customers demand it. “The major corporations, such as Coke and Kraft, specifically request PMMI Certified Trainers to be involved in the installation of new equipment,” says Newcomer. “The specs out of Nancy’s [Cobb] books are essentially the sought-after standard for teaching.” For other customers less familiar with the program, the Certified Trainer element is an additional perk when considering purchasing new equipment. “We advertise the fact that our technicians are PMMI Certified Trainers on our website as well as at PACK EXPO and other shows, through posting signs and involvement with the Program’s marquees,” Fowler says. He continues that “now it is a matter of getting customers to understand the need of having Certified Trainers for start-up training, which is often very hectic and must be accomplished in a short period of time. The customer is always going to want a new line running as quickly as possible, but in allowing the correct training to take place, the long-term outlook will be better.” Fowler promotes the benefit of having Certified Trainers on their website: faster start-up curves, reduced downtime, reduced service calls, reduced equipment failure, reduced changeover times, increased safety and attainment of ongoing productivity, just to name a few. “The Certified Trainer Program focuses on formal training, provides the basis for hands-on analysis and develops a skill set applicable across the board,” Newcomer says. “Now the challenge is getting the customer to give us the time to maximize the operators’ on-demand capabilities.” As customer needs evolve to require more condensed or more in-depth training, the PMMI Certified Trainer Program will develop ways to meet those needs, ensuring companies like Fowler have the ‘quality training’ the industry is growing to depend on. |
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