Sennebogen - Custom, CenarioVR®, The Training Arcade®

Sennebogen is a multinational provider of large material handling machines used for steel mills, recycling facilities, landscape conservation, demolition, port handling, and other material handling industries.

In 2021, Sennebogen sought to modernize its training program by supplementing in-person training with online courses and by automating training enrollment.

Before this project, Sennebogen had no digital footprint; all of their training was in person, and their scheduling was managed manually using a spreadsheet. Because the spreadsheets did not automatically adjust when someone registered for a training, employees would often sign up for the same training slot. Administrators had to communicate with the employees about rescheduling and choosing who got which slots, They spent a lot of time on the phone with employees who wanted to know which slots were available. Employees would also often sign up for time slots months in advance to ensure they got the training. Because of these issues, 40% of people who RSVPd for the training did not actually attend.

Sennebogen also had difficulties showcasing its products. While they export to over 100 countries, they only have physical locations in 4 countries. They needed a way to showcase their product to people without requiring them to travel to one of their warehouses.

Their training goals were to:

• Reduce the number of people who RSVPd for in-person training but did not attend
• Shorten in-person training 
• Save administrators time with an efficient scheduling system
• Expand the learner base so that more people could receive training
• Provide customers with a way to view products before making a purchase

Sennebogen utilized these products from ELB Learning:

• Rockstar Learning Platform
• The Training Arcade^Ⓡ game template
• Custom eLearning development by ELB Learning’s team‍
• CenarioVR^Ⓡ to create a virtual tour

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Sennebogen's Technical Trainer worked with their stakeholders to create a solution that effortlessly delivers training to their global employees and customers, schedules in-person training sessions, showcases their products to their customers, and reduces the time their employees spend training.

He started by automating their scheduling. With the Rockstar Learning Platform’s features, administrators could create events for each in-person session and set a maximum number of learners per event. The number of seats available was updated automatically and learners could sign themselves up for events rather than requiring them to sign up through administrative employees.

While this considerably reduced the time administrators spent scheduling and rescheduling employees, it did not address the number of employees who canceled their reservations at the last minute. To solve this problem, the team converted the first day (8 hours) of classroom training into 2 hours of online learning. The 2-hour course was set as a prerequisite for the additional classroom training. Doing so prevented learners from signing up for additional time slots and reduced the cost of training.

Sennebogen also added prerequisite training for the Level 2 Technician training. In order to ensure that each technician knew the basics before taking the Level 2 training, they added a Trivia game module from The Training Arcade^Ⓡ. Learners would download and review the manual on their own. When they felt ready, they would complete the Trivia game to see who could get the highest score. Once the technicians completed the game, they could access the Level 2 courses. Adding this prerequisite allowed each learner to review material based on their own knowledge gaps.

Because the Rockstar Learning Platform can deliver training to audiences across the world, Sennebogen is able to provide training for more than just service technicians. The training team took Sennebogen’s training DVDs, converted them to digital courses, and uploaded them to the platform. Using the platform’s learner groups and Office settings, they’re able to create groups of learners (internal, end-user (customer) free training, regular dealers, and authorized service providers) and assign specific training to those groups rather than to every individual. With this restructuring, they were able to provide training for warehousing, marketing, sales, other departments, and even customers. The Rockstar Learning Platform’s built-in course builder was then able to translate these courses into additional languages automatically, no VTT file required. Administrators simply upload content into the builder and select their desired language from the dropdown.

Lastly, they built a virtual tour of a Sennebogen warehouse using CenarioVR. In this VR tour, customers could view what each product looked like as if they were walking past the machines on the lot. Interactive tips were added so that customers could see relevant information about each machine as they “walked” past them on the lot.

With the new training content and user-friendly delivery via the Rockstar Learning Platform, Sennebogen has seen increased users and better attendance rates.

Benefits for Sennebogen:

• 100% of people who RSVP attend the in-person training
• The number of unique users in Q1 2022 (over 400) exceeded the number of unique users in all of 2021 (324)
• Much of the scheduling for in-person training has been automated
• Troubleshooting guides and other training material could be easily translated into additional languages

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Benefits for learners and customers:

• 8 hours of in-person training was condensed into 2 hours of engaging online courses
• Customers can now take a virtual tour of Sennebogen’s machines before making a purchasing decision