Picture-perfect training

This Midwest distributor produces high-quality videos and DVDs to train employees, customers and other distributors

by Rich Vurva

Not long after Mike Nemechek became president of IBT Inc. in October 2004, he briefly considered reducing the company’s investment in training as a cost-saving move. What harm would it do, he wondered, if the company skipped an IBT Academy, the semi-annual hands-on training sessions it conducts for employees?

Fortunately for IBT, Nemechek decided to continue to invest in training activities. He’s convinced it was the right decision.

“I quickly learned how important training is to our company’s position in the marketplace,” he says. “Product and customer service training creates knowledgeable and helpful employees. Our customers really value that. It’s one of the key things that sets us apart from our competition.”

Nemechek says the company’s emphasis on training not only produces a knowledgeable workforce, it also spawned a unique profit center. In addition to a fee-based IBT Customer Academy, which teaches maintenance workers the basics of bearing installation and maintenance, shaft couplings, roller chain, lubrication and other essential power transmission topics, the company produces and sells training videos and DVDs on a variety of topics.

The IBT Media Group developed such a strong reputation for producing high-quality training videos that it led to projects such as developing the 14-part product training video series for the Power Transmission Distributors Association, plus numerous assignments for customers and suppliers such as Flexco, Warner Electric, Goodyear, Diamond Chain and SKF.

Video shot and edited using IBT’s state-of-the-art high-definition camera and editing studio have been broadcast on the popular Oprah Winfrey television program, ESPN, The History Channel and in promotional materials and commercials for the Applebee’s restaurant chain. The privately held company with $120 million in annual sales won’t reveal financial performance for specific groups, but reports the Media Group has achieved record-setting profits for five months in a row.

None of that business would have been possible if IBT had not first committed itself to training.

How it all began
Since the company was founded in 1949, IBT management always believed in providing employees with product and application knowledge to help them be a better resource for their customers. In the early days, when the distributor’s product line focused primarily on bearings and power transmission products, most of the training took place during weekly meetings at the local branch level.

As the company added branches and expanded its product and service offering, it became increasingly difficult to maintain a consistent training message. It also wasn’t possible to get vendors or IBT product specialists to visit branches in remote locations. So, in the late 1970s, IBT began to videotape training sessions and mail them to branches.

That approach worked well for several years.  Eventually, the videos started to lose their effectiveness, according to director of training Gary Hense, who served as camera operator, lighting director and videotape editor in those fledgling years.

“It got to be boring. Some of the videos were talking heads reading from a catalog. So, we started getting into higher-end production techniques,” he says.

Today, the IBT Media Group’s production facility at corporate headquarters in Merriam, Kansas, is home to a studio with nearly half-a-million dollars in high-tech video and DVD production equipment that rivals any found in major media markets such as New York or Chicago. Revenue from advertising agencies and media outlets enables the company to continually invest in new technology it uses in customer and internal training efforts.

“When we started more than 20 years ago, it was just to support our branches. We’d film a product demonstration so guys would know how to sell it and where to sell it. It has evolved into where it is today,” says Hense.

Five-year training
Videos and DVDs produced by the Media Group are an integral part of IBT’s comprehensive, five-year training program. Newly hired employees begin with the basic program, which focuses on customer service, telephone techniques and basic product training. They view the 14 PTDA videos and complete the PTDA workbook, completing tests after each module. They also view a series of industry-specific videos to learn as much as possible about industries that IBT customers serve, such as poultry and beef processing, cement, sand and gravel, corrugated boxes and others.

“These videos are especially useful to our inside salespeople, who may never get a chance to see how the products and services we sell are used in the various industries where our customers operate,” says Jerry Hayes, vice president of marketing.

When they’ve finished the basic training modules, which take about one year to complete, employees enter the intermediate training program. They attend a two-week-long IBT Academy that covers all the product groups and emphasizes hands-on product assembly and training. Hense requires employees to take a test before beginning the Academy to assess their knowledge level and also tests them after the training session to gauge what they learned.

“I’m a big fan of the pre-test, post-test format. I like to know what they learned from a program. You don’t know if you just give them a test at the end. We’re able to track in the computer what their pre-test and post-test score was. That way we know if it was an effective program,” says Hense.

Employees at the intermediate level also work their way through the Product Educational Program (PEP), a series of 24 workbooks with in-depth product-specific training. Each self-study module takes from 12 to 15 hours to complete. They also complete the IBT Installation and Maintenance Series, a six-part DVD set with companion workbooks that focuses on installing and maintaining V-belts, bushings, roller bearings, shaft couplings, mounted and unmounted bearings.

Each step of the way, employees take tests to demonstrate their mastery of the subjects covered. If employees fall behind, about 30 to 45 days before their next promotion or raise, Hense sends them an e-mail reminding them which modules they must complete.

“At IBT, no one gets very far behind in training. Raises and promotions are based on the employee’s progress in the training program,” says Hense.

Intermediate-level employees also attend bearings schools put on by major suppliers SKF and Timken, covering bearings nomenclature, installation and maintenance.

After completing the intermediate training program, employees move to the IBT advanced training. By now, an employee has worked for IBT for three years and is ready to learn more advanced application and engineering techniques. The advanced training program also covers management topics, such as negotiations and time management. Some of the courses are designed to help employees on a career track to become managers.

The final step in the five-year process is the IBT masters program, an optional course of study where employees can learn more in a product grouping of their interest, such as electrical, industrial rubber, material handling, safety or any of the other major product groups IBT represents.

“Each employee can choose the area where they would like to become an expert and we develop a tailor-made program for them to follow,” Hense says. Employees in the masters program may visit a factory to learn how products are made, work in the product group of their choosing for a week or even teach a basic-level course at the IBT Academy. The goal is to develop more product specialists who can serve as resources at every IBT branch and customer site.

Although their formal education ends with the masters program, Hense says all employees participate in weekly product training sessions and can access new training materials as they are developed.

Moving online
Within the next six months to a year, Hayes says all of the videotape and DVD-based training materials will convert to a Web-based format. Instead of watching videos and using workbooks and paper-based tests, employees will complete all of the training and tests online. The company’s computer system will automatically record test scores and track each employee’s progress across all 45 branches.

“Putting training online will make it even more accessible for employees. As we’ve expanded geographically, it’s getting tougher to keep track of people. It will also enable us to reduce costs because we won’t have to print all of the workbooks,” says Hayes.

Making training more accessible and less costly will accomplish the goal Mike Nemechek envisioned when he joined IBT nearly two years ago. It will enable IBT to continue its longstanding reputation as a leader in employee and customer training, but do so in a cost-effective way.
  

This article originally appeared in the September 2005 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2005.

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