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Voucher scheme helps with state-of-the-art training
Investing in state-of the-art technology and equipment is one way to grow your business. But, as Hamilton manufacturing company Stainless Design can attest, investing in state-of-the-art training and development for your employees is just as important.
With eighty staff working on a range of specialised equipment and software, Stainless Design required a customised and comprehensive set of training materials that would standardise work practices and provide staff with the opportunity to grow with the company.
Using Wintec’s Research, Development and Transfer (RD&T) voucher scheme, Stainless Design managing director John Cook approached Wintec to assist with the project.
“Wintec were considered our local experts in training development and delivery so it was easy to put ourselves in their hands...the team at Wintec’s Learning Works were of enormous help.”
A team of specialist learning and information designers at Wintec designed a customised training solution, centred around the e-learning software Moodle. The Moodle platform enabled Stainless Design to develop their own set of training materials and standard operating procedures tailored for their specialist machinery.
“One of the huge advantages of Moodle is that it captures ‘the way we do things at Stainless Design’ so essentially the knowledge or intellectual property of our business” says Cook.
As a company, Stainless Design is focused on continuous improvement and the development of its people, systems and processes through the implementation of Kaizen. Working with Wintec staff, Stainless Design have been able to fast-track their improvement in this area.
“Through this project, Wintec have accelerated our progress with our ‘Lean’ objectives to cross train our team, to provide them with more challenges and the opportunity to grow with our business. It has provided the platform for standardisation of work practices while we explore new and progressive ways to carry out our daily tasks related to our information and learning systems” says Cook.
Stainless Design is part of an increasing number of companies turning to the polytechnics and institutes of technology for assistance with their business development needs. It marks a shift in perception, from seeing polytechnics purely as educators, to regarding them as a valuable source of knowledge, R&D expertise and practical know-how, which businesses can exploit to improve company performance.
New Zealand’s six largest polytechnics have banded together to collectively promote their services to industry under one umbrella. Unitec, Manukau Institute of Technology, Wintec, WelTec, CPIT and Otago Polytechnic launched ‘Innovating New Zealand’ in July this year to encourage and support technology and knowledge transfer from the institutes to industry.
Over the coming months the network will be expanded to include a further four regional polytechnics— Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Eastern Institute of Technology and Waiariki Institute of Technology.
Companies can tap into the expertise of polytechnic and institutes of technology staff through a collaborative website—www.innovatingnz.org.nz.
Unitec Dean of Research Dr. Simon Peel explains, “Innovating New Zealand asks industry what their needs are and links those needs to areas of expertise and capability that can solve those problems and issues.”
Innovation, broadly defined, encompasses the development of new products and services, improved business operations and processes, increased organisational capability and new or improved marketing methods. Through a combination of fee-for-service consulting, customised staff training, design and prototyping services and student internships, the polytechnic sector offers a range of solutions for a myriad of business challenges.
Business NZ Chief Executive Phil O’Reilly says the connection between polytechnics, universities and the business sector will improve the rate of commercially-successful innovations.
“This new technology will make the commercialisation of innovation easier and faster by marrying up science with business know-how to increase productivity and create high-value products for the global market.”
In other words, the transfer of technology and knowledge from the polytechnics to industry presents significant opportunities for those companies that get involved. Wintec’s RD&T voucher scheme is but one example of the initiatives the polytechnics have established to facilitate a deeper engagement with industry and improve company performance.
In the words of Stainless Designs Managing Director John Cook, “we are very grateful for the willingness of Wintec to help the local business community to ‘raise the bar’.”
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