Remote training

In one of my last blog posts, I emphasized the growing importance of industrial training programs.

Especially as we work to make the vision of Industrie 4.0 a reality, we are well advised to keep our workers informed about the increasingly complex activities required of them. Indeed, the frequently evoked concept of “lifelong learning” is much more than an empty slogan: It is fast becoming an absolute prerequisite for innovation and progress in industrial enterprises.

That’s why industrial training programs are an important tool as we advance toward the future of industry. As I mentioned in my last blog post, this is already evident today in the feedback we receive from our customers, and in the sheer number of participants, which is growing steadily year after year. To continue serving this need, we’re constantly developing new training methods and concepts for our customers.

Eight SIMATIC practice machines and drives with two or three practice stations stand ready in the Swiss city of Biel. This equipment is used for our industry training programs. What is truly remarkable about this is that the course instructors and participants are not located in Switzerland – they are in Istanbul.

How is this possible? With remote control. Course participants can use the training software from anywhere in the world as usual and do not even perceive that they are connected with the remote-controlled and camera-monitored training device via gateway. The data is transferred to the users via VPN. However, this is not a simulation; it is real training on actual devices. Image and acoustic signals are transmitted – participants can even hear the sound of fans.

The Swiss technical college Höhere Fachschule für Technik Biel (HFT Biel) and its mechanical engineering programs jointly designed the remote-control training course with Siemens. This method is suitable for certain target groups. Engineers, project planners, and programmers, for example, need only a working software environment for their training. Service technicians and maintenance staff, in contrast, are dependent on locally available hardware. Usually, remote-control training is of little use in such cases. However, considering the huge Sinumerik cabinets that would need to be transported from one place to another, the advantages of this new method become clear.

Another variant of training with remote access, currently being offered only in the United States, is instructor-led online training. In this case, the participants are in different locations and learn, for example, at home or in their offices. They hear and see the trainer´s presentation on their computer screens. Hardware is immaterial, as all the exercises are available as simulations. The daily unit of the weeklong training course takes just two hours to complete. However, the participants can access the software and hardware simulation and practice 24 hours a day. Currently, two introductory courses on the Simatic PLC are being offered.

These new approaches cannot and are not meant to replace face-to-face training – that is, the direct contact between trainer and participants – but they can complement the training portfolio in a useful way.